Originally published in MarketWatch

By Tammi Jantzen

Venture capitalists are known for their intellectual curiosity, searching everywhere for new technologies that could change the world.

Except when it comes to researching and investing in products geared toward women’s and children’s health and wellness.

The problem isn’t a lack of interest or the sector’s financial potential, which is strong.

The problem is that men often lack the insight into the finer points of problems such as childbirth injuries, women’s sexual health, symptoms of menopause, or even aspects of early childhood health.

I recall one male VC who told us about a promising women’s sexual-health company, which produced a device that sought to improve female sexual function. He explained that he thought it was a promising company, but he may have difficulty leading the deal himself because he may have a hard time describing the functionality of its products in detail to his other male partners. Even speaking to me about it, he looked like he was breaking into a sweat.

It’s tough to finance a product you can’t talk about.

Women and mothers, of course, have no such skittishness about products related to female health. There comes a point where you’ve lived and seen it all.

Take, for example, Naya Health, which has developed a sleek new iPhone-sized breast pump to meet the lifestyle needs of modern moms. Naya CEO Janica Alvarez has said that during meetings with potential VC investors, she often refers to her breasts during the presentation to explain how the revolutionary interface works, clearly making the male VCs uncomfortable.

Unfortunately, only 4% of VCs are female.

Perhaps that explains why some women’s health issues go unaddressed. Discussions about women’s health, especially sexual and reproductive health, long have been taboo, or worse yet, women were led to believe these issues were part of life and were expected to just deal with them. Or, as the recent media coverage about “women’s Viagra” showed, the discussion can take place without enough women at the table.

Women, however, make 85% to 90% of health-related decisions for themselves and their children. They make 80% of overall purchasing decisions.

They also are, generally, still the primary caregiver in families with children. That is even as they are, according to the Pew Center for Research, the sole or primary source of income for 40% of households with children under the age of 18.

In the future, as health care moves away from institutions to individuals, women will make more and more health decisions for themselves and their families.

So far, my venture firm has established relationships with leading medical centers in Boston, Philadelphia and Ohio. We intend to foster collaborative relationships among those centers. For example, we see a lot of work being done for children’s allergies, and there could be an opportunity to integrate several technologies into a company.

Apart from work being done in medical centers, we have identified over 200 companies specializing in women’s and children’s health and wellness.

One is Materna Medical, the maker of a vaginal dilator, a device that dilates the vaginal canal during the first stage of labor, slowly, to avoid some of the pelvic floor tears that can happen upon delivery.

Those tears can, later in life, cause stress urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse. The surgery for correcting the issue has mixed results for many women, who then experience a limited capacity for everything from exercise to travel as a result. It’s a huge quality-of-life issue, which few would speak about in mixed company.

Would a 29-year-old male VC know anything about that issue? Not likely.

Many of these companies make products that might even resonate with male VCs, especially those who are dads. But even then, if women are the primary caregivers, they may be more aware of the problems. Lully, for instance, is a device that slips under a mattress to help prevent a child’s night terrors. Night terrors — in which a child has what looks like a waking nightmare — aren’t necessarily problematic for the child, but they are extremely disruptive and distressing for parents and siblings.

Note that the products I’ve mentioned — Lully, Naya and the Materna device — were triggered by problems women and children have likely faced since the dawn of humanity. And new technologies driven by personal experience have proven to be a major driver for successful innovations.

That’s something any VC should understand.

Tammi Jantzen, a Kauffman Fellow, is general partner and chief financial officer ofAstarte Ventures, which invests in services and products geared toward women’s and children’s health and wellness.