The Femtech Paradox – Bentley University

So how can female employees ensure their biological data doesn’t become the basis of business decisions? Brown advocates a two-pronged approach: increasing public awareness about potential data misuse and enacting new legislation to protect health data from widespread dissemination.  

User awareness is particularly important, she says, noting that menstrual tracking apps are the fourth most popular health app among young adults and the second most popular among adolescents. To help younger femtech users make more informed decisions, she supports the creation and use of a standardized label that would “ensure that each app and tool discloses, in simple and clear terms,” the specific information being collected and how and with whom that data is shared. 

Brown also endorses enacting federal legislation to provide data protection explicitly for employees. She points to the Protecting Personal Health Data Act, proposed in 2019 by Senators Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, which would allow consumers to review, change and delete information collected about their health. Notably, the act calls for the creation of a National Task Force on Health Data Protection, charged with evaluating and regulating “consumer and employee health data” [emphasis added]. As of today, the Act has not yet been passed by the Senate. 

Whether via federal task force or alternative legislation, Brown says, workplace wellness programs should be regulated to ensure more flexibility and transparency. Instead of an all-or-nothing approach, employees — regardless of gender — should be given the option to choose which elements of those programs they participate in “without fearing a subsequent loss of health insurance or employment.”  

In a climate where COVID-19 has prioritized conversations about employee health, and wellness programs featuring femtech are being marketed as essential mechanisms for retaining female talent, it’s crucial for women to consider how biometric monitoring devices could be used against them. “These are urgent concerns for women at work,” Brown says. “Rather than empowering women, as they promise, these technological advances could be used to further gender inequality.”