The chart above shows the estimated number of new cancer cases in 2008 for gender-specific cancers, using data from the

American Cancer Society

. For men most of the cases were for prostate cancer, and for women it was mostly new cases of breast cancer, but also cervical and ovarian cancer. The ratio of new gender-specific cancers in 2008 was 1.32 new female cases of cancer for every one male case.

What about government funding for gender-specific cancers? The National Institutes of Health (NIH) estimate that they will spend $4,446,000,000 in 2009 for female-specific cancers (breast cancer, cervical cancer, ovarian cancer, and “women’s health”) and $299,000,000 for men’s cancer (prostate cancer), which is a ratio of almost 15:1 in favor of women (see chart below). For spending in 2009 by the

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Cancer Programs

, the gap is even greater: they will spend $218 million on female-specific cancers (breast, cervical, ovarian and gynecologic cancer) and $13.245 million on prostate cancer, which is a ratio of 16.5 to 1 in favor of women (see chart below).





Even adjusting for the greater rate of new cancer cases affecting women (1:32 to 1), and the fact that female cancers are deadlier than male cancers by a ratio of about 2:35 to 1, there still seems to be a significant gender gap in favor of women for federal spending on cancer research and prevention.