Health disparities are hardly exclusive to women. In the United States, if you’re not wealthy, not white and not heterosexual, you may be receiving less than optimal health care.

But research on disparities between how women and men are treated in medical settings is growing — and it is concerning for any woman seeking care. Research shows that both doctors and nurses prescribe less pain medication to women than men after surgery, even though women report more frequent and severe pain levels. And a University of Pennsylvania study found that women waited 16 minutes longer than men to receive pain medication when they visited an emergency room. Women are also more likely to be told their pain is “psychosomatic,” or influenced by emotional distress. And in a survey of more than 2,400 women with chronic pain, 83 percent said they felt they had experienced gender discrimination from their health care providers.

And then there are the stories that physicians themselves share about their patients. “I can’t tell you how many women I’ve seen who have gone to see numerous doctors, only to be told their issues were stress-related or all in their heads,” says Dr. Fiona Gupta, a neurologist and director of wellness and health in the department of neurosurgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. “Many of these patients were later diagnosed with serious neurological problems, like multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease. They knew something was wrong, but had been discounted and instructed not to trust their own intuition.”

“It can be hard to speak up if you feel you’re not being treated fairly,” Dr. Powell said. “I’m a professor at a medical school and I struggled with it.”

Here are three steps to help ensure your health concerns are taken seriously.

Ask about guidelines

If your doctor recommends something you suspect isn’t right (including “watch and wait”), Dr. Powell advises asking: “What’s the basis for your recommendation? Are there guidelines for this, and what do they say?” “Guidelines tend to be fairly objective and data-driven, so women do better when their doctors follow them,” she notes.

Be direct

If you still feel like you’re being dismissed, say, “I’m concerned, and I feel that maybe you aren’t hearing me. Help me understand why you don’t see this as a problem.” “A good physician can have biases,” says Dr. Powell. “But a good physician should also be able to take a step back and say, ‘I hear you. Let’s talk this through.’”

Check your own bias

“As women, we’ve been taught from an early age to rationalize warning signs of physical or mental health problems,” says Dr. Gupta. (To wit: a Yale cardiology study found that many women hesitated to seek help for a heart attack because they worried about being thought of as hypochondriacs.) Recognize that expressing concern over symptoms doesn’t mean you’re overreacting, self-diagnosing, or trying to do your health care provider’s job for them. Says Dr. Gupta: “If you feel like something isn’t right with your health, honor that — even if a doctor is disagreeing with you. It’s better to find out you’re wrong than to wait too long.”

There’s little evidence to show that female providers offer women more equal care than male providers do. The best doctor, says Dr. Powell, is the one who listens to you and views health care as a conversation — not a set of orders.