Women’s Heart Week

For too long, heart disease was treated as a man’s problem, and women paid the price in missed diagnoses and delayed care. Women’s Heart Week exists to close that gap with a simple premise: women’s hearts deserve dedicated attention, research, and conversation. It arrives each February alongside American Heart Month, and it shares the month’s signature color, red, worn proudly on National Wear Red Day, the first Friday of February. A week of red is a week of refusing to look away.

The numbers demand attention. Heart disease is the number one killer of women in the United States, taking more women’s lives than all forms of cancer combined. Because symptoms in women can differ from the classic signs seen in men, and because women’s concerns have too often been dismissed, the disease remains under-recognized and under-treated. Awareness is not a slogan here. It is a survival skill, and this week is dedicated to teaching it.

One of the heroes of this story is Dr. Bernadine Healy (1944-2011), a pioneering cardiologist and the first woman to lead the National Institutes of Health, serving from 1991 to 1993. She challenged the medical establishment to recognize that heart disease affects women differently than men, coining the phrase Yentl syndrome for the tendency to treat women’s heart problems as if they were men’s. Her advocacy helped redirect research dollars and attention toward women’s cardiovascular health, and her name is still invoked whenever the conversation turns to equity in cardiac care.

In 2004, the American Heart Association launched Go Red for Women, giving the cause its enduring symbol: the red dress. Each year, National Wear Red Day, observed on the first Friday of February, invites everyone to wear red, share facts, and raise funds for research and education. Retailers often join in with red merchandise that benefits heart health causes, and offices, schools, and social feeds turn crimson with purpose. It is the most visible day of Women’s Heart Week, and the easiest to join: just wear red and tell someone why.

The Women’s Heart Alliance, a national nonprofit co-founded in 2014 by women’s health advocate Barbra Streisand, works to increase recognition of heart disease as women’s leading health threat and to address inequities in prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and research. Its campaigns have highlighted stark findings: in one research study, women suffering the most serious type of heart attack were far more likely to have been initially misdiagnosed, and women seeking help for chest pain waited longer in emergency rooms than men. The Alliance’s message is direct: learn the unique signs, speak up, and get your heart checked. It has even launched an AI support tool offering trustworthy heart-health education on prevention topics from nutrition and physical activity to stress management.

Grassroots support has deep roots as well. In the late 1990s, three heart attack survivors, Jackie Markham, Nancy Loving, and Judy Mingram, who had each faced isolation and disbelief after their cardiac events, conceived WomenHeart, the National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease. Markham’s own story is searing: unable to get a doctor to believe her symptoms, she ended up in an emergency room with a full heart attack before a female physician recognized what was wrong and saved her life. Their vision created a community where women could find information and one another, at a time when heart disease was still widely considered a man’s disease.

February is American Heart Month, which makes the first week of the month the natural home for a women’s heart observance. All month long, landmarks glow red, news outlets run heart-health segments, and organizations offer screenings and educational events. Women’s Heart Week concentrates that energy into seven days with a specific audience in mind: the mothers, daughters, sisters, and friends whose symptoms are still too often missed, and whose questions still too often go unasked.

Prevention is the week’s practical heart. The education experts behind these campaigns point to the same foundations again and again: nourishing food, regular physical activity, not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, and managing stress. None of it requires a gym membership or a perfect record, just steady, sustainable choices and honest conversations with a doctor about blood pressure, cholesterol, and family history. Small steps, taken seriously, protect the muscle that carries you through everything else.

No one should face a heart scare alone, and the week is a good time to find your people. WomenHeart’s community connects women living with heart disease for support and shared experience, a reminder that behind every statistic is a person with a story. Whether it is a walking buddy, a support group, or simply a friend who checks in, community is part of cardiac care. Strong hearts are built together, one conversation and one walk at a time.

The research gap is part of the story the week tells. For decades, cardiovascular science centered on men’s bodies and men’s symptoms, which is exactly the bias Dr. Healy named and the Women’s Heart Alliance was founded to fight. The Alliance works to address enduring inequities in prevention, diagnosis, treatment, research, and access to quality care, insisting that women’s hearts be studied on their own terms. Every February, the week renews that demand: fund the research, ask the questions, and stop treating half the population as an afterthought.

Observing the week can be quiet and personal: schedule the checkup you have been postponing, learn how heart attack symptoms can present differently in women, take a walk with a friend, or wear red on Friday and tell someone why. Talk with your family about your history, because heart risk runs in families as surely as eye color. If something feels wrong, say so, and keep saying it until you are heard. Hearts are worth insisting on.

THE STORY BEHIND WOMEN’S HEART WEEK

❤️ Every 80 Seconds
The Women’s Heart Alliance reports that heart disease claims a woman’s life every 80 seconds.

🔬 The Yentl Syndrome
Cardiologist Dr. Bernadine Healy, the first woman to lead the NIH, named the bias of treating women’s hearts like men’s.

📆 Go Red Since 2004
The American Heart Association launched Go Red for Women in 2004, with the red dress as its symbol.

👥 Founded by Survivors
WomenHeart was conceived in the late 1990s by three heart attack survivors seeking community and answers.

📢 Wear Red Day
National Wear Red Day falls on the first Friday of February. In 2027, that is Friday, February 5.

WAYS TO CELEBRATE

🏫 Wear Red on Friday
Wear red on February 5 and share one fact about women’s heart health with everyone who asks why.

👣 Learn the Warning Signs
Read up on how heart attack symptoms can differ in women, then share what you learn with the women you love.

💬 Schedule Your Checkup
Use the week as your nudge to book a heart-health checkup and talk with your doctor about your personal risks.

Celebrate Women’s Heart Week

From February 1 to 7, 2027, put women’s hearts first. Wear red on February 5, learn the signs, book the checkup, and speak up for yourself and the women you love. Share one fact with #WomensHeartWeek and keep the conversation going all month. Awareness saves lives only when it becomes action, and this week is the time to act.