Women’s brain health and brain capital

Brain capital, broadly defined as a form of capital that prioritizes brain skills and brain health, is urgently required. Integrating social, emotional and cognitive brain resources is a great asset for a wealthy and healthy society. Nevertheless, there is little investment in women’s brain health on a global scale. Women, on average, spend nine additional years in poor health compared with men, which hinders their participation in education, the workforce and society at large. This Perspective highlights the crucial intersection between investing in women’s brain health and the concept of ‘brain capital.’ Here we argue that addressing the women’s health gap could potentially increase the global economy by US $1 trillion in annual incremental gross domestic product. Furthermore, we hope this article will serve as a springboard to stimulate discussion and concrete stakeholder actions toward closing the women’s brain health gap and will add to the growing discourse on sex- and gender-specific healthcare and its impact on global community well-being. In this Perspective, the authors discuss the need to address the women’s brain health gap and its link to the concept of brain capital.