Autistic women and girls
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Autistic women and girls
Men and boys are currently diagnosed with autism at a higher rate than women and girls. This is gradually changing as more women and girls are diagnosed as autistic.
Autism and gender attitudes are changing, but there is still a long way to go. Many autistic women and girls continue to struggle to get the support they need.
Here, we explore the gender diagnosis gap in greater detail, share stories from autistic women and girls, and offer some theories as to why more men and boys are being diagnosed with autism.
Are men more likely to be diagnosed as autistic than women?
Studies and statistics
- According to various studies, the male-to-female ratio of autistics ranges from 2:1 to 16:1. The most recent estimate is 3:2.
- In Leo Kanner’s 1943 study of a small group of autistic children, there were four times as many boys as girls.
- Lorna Wing (renowned psychiatrist and co-founder of our charity’s first diagnosis centre) discovered in her 1981 paper on autism and sex ratios in early childhood that among people with a diagnosis of ‘high-functioning autism’ or Asperger syndrome (as it was called at the time), there were 15 times more men and boys than women and girls, whereas, in autistic people with learning difficulties, the ratio of men and boys to women and girls was closer to 2:1.
- In a much larger 1993 study of Asperger syndrome in mainstream schools in Sweden, Ehlers and Gillberg discovered a boy-to-girl ratio of 4:1.
- According to Brugha’s 2009 survey of adults living in households across England, 1.8% of men and boys had autism, compared to 0.2% of women and girls.
- In 2015, the National Autistic Society’s adult services supported approximately 3:1 more men than women, and our charity’s schools supported approximately 5:1.
- In a 2017 study, Loomes and colleagues examined existing prevalence studies and discovered that the male-to-female ratio was closer to 3:1.
What autistic women have to say
Many of the autistic women the National Autistic Society have spoken with expressed concern about receiving a late diagnosis or having difficulty getting the support they needed.
The National Autistic Society interviewed several women and girls as part of their Stories from the Spectrum series and shared their experiences with the charity.
“I feel autistic women are more likely to be described as ‘anxious’ and an autism diagnosis overlooked, since it can challenge gender stereotypes.” – (Dr Camilla Pang)
“I think there is a lack of understanding of how autism can present in girls, who are often socialised differently.” (Sara Gibbs, autistic comedy writer)
Charl Davies, autistic tattoo artist, said: “I find that being a female I am expected to behave a certain way to fit in socially which is why I have spent so much time masking.”
Dr Camilla Pang, autistic scientist and author, explained: “I feel autistic women are more likely to be described as ‘anxious’ and an autism diagnosis overlooked, since it can challenge gender stereotypes.”
Dr Kate Fox, autistic poet and comedian, said: “I don’t think there’s an inherent difference between autistic men and women. What there is a difference in, is how society treats and socialises males and females.”
Why are more men diagnosed as autistic?
Various theories have been proposed to explain why more men and boys are diagnosed with autism.
Theories
- There is a ‘female autism phenotype,’ which means that autistic females have characteristics that do not fit the profile.
- The ‘extreme male brain’ theory of autism, which focuses on the effects of foetal testosterone on brain development
- Men and boys may have a higher prevalence of autism due to a variety of biological and environmental factors.
- Women and girls are often better at hiding or masking their difficulties.
- Teachers underreport autism symptoms in girls.
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