Why are females misdiagnosed and under diagnosed?

All research and knowledge evolves over time. All studies of autism in the scheme of time are relatively new. Often the most obvious are looked at first. Even as short a time ago as 20-25 years ago many people, including professionals, didn't accept autism as something real. When that began to be accepted and more studies on it were done they couldn't decide how it happened. All of the "Neurodiverse " conditions quite often but not always ( it can present in any way to all sexes)  "present" differently in male than female. Initially it was though only boys had autism, adhd, developmental coordination disorder, Tourette's etc. Boys traits were frequently more obvious than girls. It was thought that the conditions petered out during adolescence and adults didn't have these conditions. In my school years no one had really heard of them. Later on more generally Autism was non verbal boys with odd behaviour that stimmed a lot and didn't really ever grow up, adhd was loud unruly boys who hadn't been taught how to behave and Dcd was clumsy child syndrome. Over the last 20 years as professionals in the field of Neurodiversity have taken specialist interest in these areas much more is being discovered and discussed. It is now known that it is lifelong, most likely genetic, that although statistics say it is still predominantly males these statistics would alter if all the females were diagnosed. It is only recently that people like Lorna Wing, Tania Marshall, Dr Gould, Sarah Hendrickx to name but a few and similarly with Dcd and adhd that the differences are being noted and recorded. As all this is so new research on adult women is almost non existent. Services are aimed towards children and young adults but there are some for those more severely disabled by autism. But those with higher functioning or Aspergers are not recognised as needing as much help so slip through the net. Only recently too has there been mention of asd and aging. The other part of this is that professionals are not as up to date with this thinking and so if they haven't the knowledge and experience they misdiagnose because by adulthood many women have managed to get to that point without much help. They are often diagnosed with anything but Aspergers or equivalent; they get diagnosed as being anxious, depressed, and other mental health conditions way before any enquiry of asd or adhd etc. So it is often found that at key points of stress or change that traits are exacerbated. Or parents of children who are going through a diagnosis will recognise what is being said as a reflection of themselves.  

I hope others will give their views too. Mine probably isn't accurate in fact, sequence or terminology but will give you a general idea for you to follow up. 

All research and knowledge evolves over time. All studies of autism in the scheme of time are relatively new. Often the most obvious are looked at first. Even as short a time ago as 20-25 years ago many people, including professionals, didn't accept autism as something real. When that began to be accepted and more studies on it were done they couldn't decide how it happened. All of the "Neurodiverse " conditions quite often but not always ( it can present in any way to all sexes)  "present" differently in male than female. Initially it was though only boys had autism, adhd, developmental coordination disorder, Tourette's etc. Boys traits were frequently more obvious than girls. It was thought that the conditions petered out during adolescence and adults didn't have these conditions. In my school years no one had really heard of them. Later on more generally Autism was non verbal boys with odd behaviour that stimmed a lot and didn't really ever grow up, adhd was loud unruly boys who hadn't been taught how to behave and Dcd was clumsy child syndrome. Over the last 20 years as professionals in the field of Neurodiversity have taken specialist interest in these areas much more is being discovered and discussed. It is now known that it is lifelong, most likely genetic, that although statistics say it is still predominantly males these statistics would alter if all the females were diagnosed. It is only recently that people like Lorna Wing, Tania Marshall, Dr Gould, Sarah Hendrickx to name but a few and similarly with Dcd and adhd that the differences are being noted and recorded. As all this is so new research on adult women is almost non existent. Services are aimed towards children and young adults but there are some for those more severely disabled by autism. But those with higher functioning or Aspergers are not recognised as needing as much help so slip through the net. Only recently too has there been mention of asd and aging. The other part of this is that professionals are not as up to date with this thinking and so if they haven't the knowledge and experience they misdiagnose because by adulthood many women have managed to get to that point without much help. They are often diagnosed with anything but Aspergers or equivalent; they get diagnosed as being anxious, depressed, and other mental health conditions way before any enquiry of asd or adhd etc. So it is often found that at key points of stress or change that traits are exacerbated. Or parents of children who are going through a diagnosis will recognise what is being said as a reflection of themselves.  

I hope others will give their views too. Mine probably isn't accurate in fact, sequence or terminology but will give you a general idea for you to follow up. 

@Misfit61 Thank you very much  This is fab, I'm looking at why girls are under diagnosed or misdiagnosed for my EPQ at college. I'm really interested in it as I have a younger brother on the spectrum and see a lot of myself in him. In my project, I'm focusing on not just the diagnostic system, but also the impact that schools have on girls being misdiagnosed or under diagnosed and also what they can do to actually help. Do you think the issues in schools are part of the misconceptions and lack of knowledge teachers may have? or is it the girls ability to mask or camouflage their traits that compromise things (its probably both, but I'm just really interested to find out what other people think about it) Thank you for replying!