Do Women Have a Prostate? The Skene’s Gland Answer

It usually starts with someone else’s appointment. A brother mentions his PSA result over dinner, a father-in-law grumbles about getting up three times a night, and somewhere in the conversation a woman at the table quietly wonders whether any of this applies to her body too. Then she types the question into her phone in the parking lot.

The answer she finds is often a flat ‘no,’ followed by a paragraph about men. That is a shame, because the honest answer is far more interesting. Tucked beside the female urethra are two glands so small that most anatomy classes skip them, so poorly understood that researchers still argue about their job, and so chemically similar to the prostate that they make the very same enzyme doctors measure in a blood test.

What follows is an attempt to give that question the answer it deserves: what the glands are, what they do and don’t do, what can go wrong, and how the male prostate fits into the same story.

What's the female equivalent of a prostate?

The closest counterpart is a pair of structures called the Skene’s glands. You may also see them listed as the paraurethral glands or the lesser vestibular glands, three names for the same thing. They take their everyday name from Alexander Skene, a gynecologist who described them in detail in 1880, though anatomists had noticed the tiny ducts long before he attached his name to them.

Calling them an ‘equivalent’ is slightly generous. The more precise word is homologous, which means two structures that grew from the same starting material in the embryo, whether or not they ended up doing the same work. A bat’s wing and a human hand are homologous; nobody would call them equivalent. The prostate and the Skene’s glands both arise from a region of the early embryo called the urogenital sinus, then take very different paths depending on the hormonal signals the developing body receives.

In a male body, that tissue expands into a single walnut-sized organ wrapped around the urethra. In a female body, the same tissue stays small, splits into two clusters and settles along the sides of the urethra. Same origin, very different scale. That difference in scale is the reason one becomes a lifelong topic at the doctor’s office and the other barely gets a mention.

So the fair answer to the search query is neither ‘yes’ nor ‘no.’ It is ‘not a prostate, but the tissue that would have become one.’

Where exactly are the Skene's glands?

Picture the opening of the urethra, the small hole just above the vaginal entrance where urine leaves the body. On either side of it, roughly where the numbers five and seven would sit on a clock face, are two pinpoint duct openings. Those are the outlets of the Skene’s glands. The glandular tissue itself lies a little deeper, running along the lower part of the urethra inside the front wall of the vagina.

Everything about them is small. The ducts are often invisible to the naked eye, and the glands are typically measured in millimeters rather than centimeters, closer to a grain of rice than to any organ most people could name. In a healthy state they cannot be felt from the outside and produce no sensation a person would notice.

People sometimes confuse them with a different pair of glands, the Bartholin’s glands, which sit lower down at the sides of the vaginal opening and are better known because they occasionally swell into an obvious, sore lump. The two pairs are neighbors with different addresses: Bartholin’s glands flank the vagina, Skene’s glands flank the urethra.

The neighborhood matters clinically. Because the glands hug the urethra, a swollen or infected Skene’s gland tends to cause urinary symptoms, burning, urgency, a stream that sprays, rather than the vaginal symptoms most people would expect from something ‘down there.’ That mismatch between location and symptom is a big part of why these glands are so often overlooked in a busy clinic.

Why do scientists call it the 'female prostate'?

Three separate lines of evidence keep pulling researchers toward the comparison, and none of them relies on wishful thinking.

The first is embryology, described above: shared origin in the urogenital sinus. The second is what the tissue looks like under a microscope. Skene’s gland tissue contains the same general arrangement of secretory cells and ducts seen in prostatic tissue, just far less of it. The third, and most persuasive, is chemistry. The glands produce prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and prostatic acid phosphatase, the same two proteins that define prostatic secretions in men. A protein with ‘prostate’ in its name, made by a gland in a female body, is hard to dismiss as coincidence.

Some anatomists have argued for years that ‘female prostate’ should become the formal name. Others resist, worried that the label overstates the glands’ function and confuses patients. Both camps are working from the same facts.

Feature	Male prostate	Skene’s glands
Embryonic origin	Urogenital sinus	Urogenital sinus
Number and size	One gland, about walnut-sized, grows with age	Two clusters, millimeter scale
Location	Below the bladder, surrounding the urethra	Beside the lower urethra, in the front vaginal wall
Key secretions	PSA, prostatic acid phosphatase, alkaline fluid	PSA, prostatic acid phosphatase, small volume of fluid
Established role	Part of semen; helps sperm survive and swim	Not firmly established
Common problems	Enlargement, inflammation, cancer	Cysts, infection, abscess; cancer extremely rare

Read the last two rows together and the whole debate becomes clear: the glands are unmistakably prostate-like in origin and chemistry, and unmistakably not prostate-like in medical importance.

What is the purpose of a prostate?

To understand what the female version is being compared with, it helps to know what the male prostate actually does, because most people can locate it on a diagram far more easily than they can explain it.

The prostate sits just below the bladder and wraps around the urethra like a ring around a straw. The NHS describes it as roughly the size of a walnut in younger men, and it tends to grow as men get older. Its main job is reproductive. During ejaculation, the smooth muscle inside the gland contracts and squeezes prostatic fluid into the urethra, where it mixes with sperm from the testicles and fluid from the seminal vesicles to form semen.

That prostatic fluid is more than filler. It is slightly alkaline, which helps buffer the acidic environment sperm meet inside the vagina and improves their odds of surviving the journey. It also carries PSA, which is not a cancer marker by nature but an enzyme. Freshly ejaculated semen is thick and gel-like; PSA breaks down the proteins that hold that gel together, so within minutes the semen liquefies and sperm can swim freely. The blood test simply borrowed the enzyme’s name.

The gland’s position gives it a secondary, unintended influence on urination. Because the urethra passes straight through it, anything that swells the prostate can pinch the flow of urine, which is why so many prostate symptoms are bathroom symptoms. Nature put a reproductive gland in the middle of the plumbing, and men spend their later decades living with that design decision.

What do Skene's glands actually do?

Here the honest answer is uncomfortable for anyone who likes tidy explanations: nobody is certain. The male prostate has a clear, measurable role in fertility. The Skene’s glands have several proposed roles, each supported by some observation and none proven beyond argument.

The leading idea is lubrication. During sexual arousal the glands appear to release a small amount of fluid at the urethral opening, which may reduce friction in the area around the urethra during intercourse. A second proposal is protection. Secretions from the glands may carry antimicrobial properties that help defend the short female urethra against bacteria, a plausible idea given how often the urethra is exposed to organisms from the nearby bowel, though this remains a hypothesis rather than a demonstrated mechanism.

The third and most discussed role is as a source of the fluid released in what is called female ejaculation, covered in its own section below because the evidence there is genuinely tangled.

Why so little certainty? Partly size: tissue this small is hard to study in living people, and much of what is known comes from cadaver dissection and case reports. Partly history: reproductive anatomy research has long concentrated on structures with an obvious fertility role, and these glands have none. Partly variability: the glands differ so much between individuals that findings in one small study often fail to appear in the next.

The responsible conclusion is that the glands probably contribute to comfort and possibly to defense, that neither claim is settled, and that a body functions perfectly well whether or not anyone ever identifies their purpose.

Do all women have Skene's glands?

Most do, but ‘most’ is doing real work in that sentence. Anatomical studies consistently find the glands in the majority of women examined, yet they also find enormous variation in size and development. In some people the glands are relatively well formed with easily traced ducts; in others they are tiny, scattered clusters of tissue that a pathologist has to search for; and in a minority they are so underdeveloped that researchers describe them as absent or vestigial.

Wisdom teeth offer a useful comparison. They are a normal part of human anatomy, they vary widely in size and position, and a meaningful share of people never develop one or more of them without any ill effect. Skene’s glands appear to follow a similar pattern of individual variation, and there is no evidence that having small or undetectable glands causes a health problem.

This variability is not a footnote. It probably explains a good deal of the confusion in sexual health research, where one study reports fluid release or heightened sensitivity along the front vaginal wall and another, using similar methods on different volunteers, reports almost none. If the underlying structure differs from person to person, the experiences built on it will differ too.

The same principle applies to men, incidentally. Prostate size varies considerably between individuals of the same age, and the amount of fluid it produces varies as well. Human glands come in ranges, not standard issue.

For anyone reading this with a flicker of worry: there is no test you need, no ‘normal’ you must meet, and no reason to assume something is missing.

Is the G-spot the female prostate?

Several of the pages that rank for this question make the leap in their headline: the G-spot is the female prostate. The evidence supports something more nuanced.

The G-spot was proposed as a discrete, sensitive area on the front wall of the vagina, a few centimeters inside the opening. Decades of attempts to confirm it as a distinct anatomical structure have produced mixed results. Dissection studies, ultrasound and MRI have not consistently located a unique piece of tissue that corresponds to the spot, and reviews of the research generally conclude that a single, standalone G-spot has not been demonstrated.

What those studies do show is crowding. The front vaginal wall is thin, and directly behind it sit the urethra, the Skene’s glands, and the internal extensions of the clitoris, which reach far deeper into the pelvis than the small external portion suggests. Many researchers now describe this packed region as a clitourethrovaginal complex. Pressure on the front wall stimulates several structures at once, and the Skene’s glands are one part of the ensemble, not the soloist.

So the tidy equation falls apart on both sides. The G-spot may not be a spot, and the Skene’s glands are not the whole story of anterior wall sensitivity. What survives is a more useful idea: sensitivity in that region is real for many people, variable for all, and shaped by anatomy that differs from body to body.

An opinion, grounded in that evidence: the search for a single magic location has done more harm than good, turning a normal range of experience into a test some people believe they are failing.

Female ejaculation and 'squirting': what the studies show

Two different phenomena travel under one popular label, and separating them clears up most of the confusion.

The first is the release of a small amount of thicker, whitish fluid at orgasm or during arousal. Chemical analysis of this fluid has repeatedly found PSA and prostatic acid phosphatase, the signature proteins of the Skene’s glands, which is the strongest evidence that the glands do secrete during sexual activity. Volumes are modest, often no more than a teaspoon.

The second is the expulsion of a much larger volume of clear fluid, commonly called squirting. A 2015 study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine followed seven women with pelvic ultrasound before, during and after this experience. Their bladders were empty before arousal, visibly filled during it, and were empty again immediately after the fluid was released. Laboratory testing found the fluid closely resembled dilute urine, while PSA was detected in the expelled samples from most of the participants. The authors’ interpretation was that squirting is essentially an involuntary release of urine from the bladder, with a small contribution from the Skene’s glands mixed in.

Seven volunteers is a very small study, and a single study should not be treated as the final word. Still, it fits with earlier chemical analyses and remains the most direct imaging evidence available.

Neither phenomenon is a medical problem, and neither is a requirement. Some people experience one, some both, many neither, and all three situations are within the range of normal. If fluid loss during sex is distressing or happens outside of arousal, that is worth discussing with a clinician, because urinary leakage has treatable causes.

Can women get prostate cancer?

Not prostate cancer as men experience it, since there is no prostate. But because the Skene’s glands are prostate-like tissue, they can, in exceedingly rare cases, develop a prostate-like tumor. Pathologists have described adenocarcinoma of the Skene’s glands, and some of these tumors produce PSA, which means a woman can occasionally have a measurable PSA level in her blood. That surprising lab result has been the clue that led to the diagnosis in several published cases.

Rare needs to be taken literally here. These cancers are known to medicine largely through individual case reports rather than population statistics, and they are often grouped under the broader heading of female urethral cancer, itself an uncommon diagnosis. For comparison, the CDC reports that about 13 of every 100 men in the United States will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetime. There is no comparable figure for Skene’s gland cancer because the numbers are too small to generate one.

This is not a reason for alarm, and it would be irresponsible to present it as one. The reason to mention it at all is practical: symptoms such as a lump beside the urethra, blood in the urine, or persistent pain with urination are nearly always caused by something benign, but they deserve a proper look rather than months of self-reassurance. A clinician who knows these glands exist is better placed to tell a harmless cyst from the rare exception.

The takeaway is symmetry, not fear. Prostate-like tissue can behave in prostate-like ways, on a scale thousands of times smaller than the male disease.

What can go wrong with Skene's glands?

When these glands cause trouble, it is almost always for one of three ordinary reasons: a duct gets blocked, the gland gets infected, or an infection turns into a pocket of pus.

A blocked duct produces a Skene’s duct cyst, a smooth, usually painless swelling beside the urethral opening. Many are small enough to go unnoticed and are discovered during a routine examination. Larger ones can push the urethra to one side, causing a stream that sprays or splits, a sense of incomplete emptying, or discomfort during sex.

Infection of the gland, sometimes called skenitis, causes burning with urination, urgency, tenderness at the urethral opening and occasionally a small amount of discharge. Because those symptoms mimic a bladder infection, people are often treated for a urinary tract infection that never quite clears. When infection builds up inside a blocked gland, the result is an abscess: a hot, swollen, painful lump that typically needs to be drained.

One more condition muddies the picture. A urethral diverticulum, a small pouch that balloons out from the urethral wall, sits in the same location and produces overlapping symptoms, including recurrent infections and dribbling after urination. Distinguishing the two often requires imaging, and the distinction matters because they are managed differently.

What happens next depends on the finding. Small, symptom-free cysts are often simply monitored. Infected glands may need treatment for the infection, and abscesses or persistently troublesome cysts may need a minor procedure. Those decisions belong with the examining clinician, not a search result.

How does the male prostate change with age?

The female counterpart stays quiet for most of a lifetime. The male prostate does the opposite, and the numbers explain why it dominates men’s health conversations.

Growth comes first. The gland enlarges gradually from middle age onward in a process called benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH. According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, BPH affects about half of men between 51 and 60 and up to 90 percent of men older than 80. The NHS estimates that roughly one in three men over 50 will have some urinary symptoms from prostate enlargement. Because the urethra runs through the gland, extra tissue narrows the channel, producing a weak stream, hesitancy, frequent trips to the bathroom, and the nightly waking that so many men describe as simply part of getting older.

Inflammation is the second story. Prostatitis, which can be bacterial or not, causes pelvic pain, painful urination and sometimes fever, and it can affect men of any age.

Cancer is the third. The CDC reports that about 13 of every 100 American men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, making it one of the most common cancers in men, and that most men diagnosed are older than 65. Many prostate cancers grow slowly; some do not.

Treatments for enlargement work through two broad mechanisms. Some medicines relax the muscle fibers within the prostate and bladder neck so urine flows more easily, an effect that typically appears within days to weeks. Others gradually shrink the gland by altering hormone signaling, which takes months to show benefit. Which approach fits, if any, is a decision for the prescribing clinician.

Can men live without a prostate?

Yes. The prostate is not a vital organ in the way the heart or kidneys are, and surgical removal of the whole gland, called a radical prostatectomy, is a long-established treatment for prostate cancer confined to the gland. Men live full lives afterward. What changes is specific and worth understanding.

Semen disappears. Because the prostate and the seminal vesicles, which are usually removed with it, produce most of the fluid in ejaculate, orgasm after surgery is ‘dry.’ The sensation of orgasm itself is generated by nerves and muscles that remain, so it can still occur. The testicles keep producing sperm, but with the pathway to the urethra disconnected, natural conception is no longer possible; men who may want children later are typically offered sperm banking before surgery.

Erections depend on delicate nerve bundles that run along the outside of the prostate. Surgeons try to preserve them when the cancer’s location allows, but recovery of erectile function varies widely and may take many months. Urinary control can also be affected, because the surgery alters the muscular support around the urethra; leakage is common in the early weeks and often improves over time, though the degree and pace differ from man to man. The NHS and other guideline bodies are candid that these effects are possible and that outcomes cannot be guaranteed in advance.

The comparison with the Skene’s glands is instructive. Remove a man’s prostate and his fertility ends. Remove a woman’s Skene’s glands, as sometimes happens when a troublesome cyst is excised, and there is no known effect on fertility at all. Homologous tissue, radically different stakes.

When should you see a doctor?

Most of what this article describes is normal anatomy and needs no appointment. A few situations do.

For women, the signals that point toward the Skene’s glands or the urethra include a lump or swelling beside the urethral opening, burning or pain with urination that keeps returning after treatment for a bladder infection, a urine stream that has started to spray or split, pain at the urethral opening during sex, or discharge that seems to come from beside the urethra rather than the vagina. None of these is an emergency in itself, and most turn out to be a cyst or a simple infection, but they warrant an examination by someone who will actually look.

For men, gradual urinary changes such as a weaker stream, hesitancy or waking at night to urinate deserve a routine conversation with a clinician, particularly after 50. The NHS and the CDC both note that these symptoms are usually caused by benign enlargement rather than cancer, which is precisely why guessing is unhelpful.

Red flags that should not wait, regardless of sex: a sudden inability to pass urine at all, especially with lower abdominal pain, which is a medical emergency; fever or chills together with urinary symptoms, which can signal an infection spreading toward the kidneys or an abscess; visible blood in the urine or, in men, in semen; and persistent pain in the lower back or bones alongside new urinary symptoms. Any of these calls for same-day care.

Nothing here is a substitute for an examination. The purpose of knowing the anatomy is to describe symptoms clearly, not to diagnose them at the kitchen table.

Why this question deserves a better answer than 'no'

A one-word answer costs something. When women are told they simply do not have a prostate, a small but real set of conditions gets harder to name. A person with a Skene’s duct cyst may spend months being treated for bladder infections she does not have, because neither she nor the clinician has a word for the structure that is actually swollen. Naming the glands, and understanding that they are prostate-like tissue with prostate-like problems on a miniature scale, shortens that path.

The better answer helps men too. Prostate health carries a peculiar embarrassment, a sense that the gland is a private matter of aging and sexual function best left unmentioned. Seeing it as part of a shared developmental story, one that every human body begins and then resolves differently, takes some of the isolation out of it. The brother at the dinner table talking about his PSA and the sister wondering about herself are discussing the same protein, made by tissue from the same embryonic source.

What matters most, in the end, is proportion. The male prostate affects, by the NIDDK’s estimate, up to nine in ten men who reach their eighties and produces a lifetime cancer risk the CDC puts at about 13 in 100. The Skene’s glands affect a small number of women with cysts or infections and an almost vanishingly small number with anything more serious. Both facts are true, and neither is served by exaggeration in either direction.

So the answer to ‘do women have a prostate’ is a considered ‘not quite, but here is what they have instead,’ delivered without fear and without dismissal. That is the answer worth quoting back at the dinner table.

Frequently asked questions

What's the female equivalent to a prostate?

The Skene’s glands, also called the paraurethral glands, are the female counterpart to the prostate. They are two small glands beside the urethral opening that arise from the same embryonic tissue as the male prostate and produce the same signature proteins, including PSA. Anatomists describe them as homologous, meaning shared origin, rather than functionally equivalent, because their role in the body is far smaller and less clearly defined.

What is the purpose of a prostate?

The prostate produces fluid that becomes part of semen. That fluid is slightly alkaline, which helps sperm survive the acidic environment of the vagina, and it contains PSA, an enzyme that thins freshly ejaculated semen so sperm can swim. Muscle within the gland contracts during ejaculation to push the fluid into the urethra. Because the urethra passes through the gland, prostate problems often show up as urinary symptoms.

Can men live without a prostate?

Yes. The prostate is not essential for survival, and complete removal is an established treatment for cancer confined to the gland. Afterward, orgasm still occurs but without semen, and natural fertility ends because the pathway for sperm is disconnected. Erections and urinary control depend on nearby nerves and muscles that can be affected by surgery, and recovery varies from person to person over months. A surgeon can explain what to expect in an individual case.

Do all women have Skene's glands?

Most women have them, but size and development vary enormously. Anatomical studies find well-formed glands in some people, tiny scattered clusters in others, and glands so underdeveloped in a minority that they are described as absent or vestigial. This variation is considered normal and is not linked to any health problem. It also helps explain why studies of fluid release and sensitivity along the front vaginal wall produce inconsistent findings.

Can women get prostate cancer?

Not prostate cancer in the usual sense, since women do not have a prostate. However, the Skene’s glands are prostate-like tissue and can, in extremely rare cases, develop a prostate-like adenocarcinoma. These tumors are known mainly through individual case reports and sometimes produce PSA. Symptoms such as a lump beside the urethra or blood in the urine are almost always caused by benign conditions, but they should be examined rather than ignored.

Is the G-spot the same as the female prostate?

Not exactly. The G-spot has never been consistently confirmed as a distinct anatomical structure in imaging or dissection studies. The front vaginal wall is sensitive for many people because the urethra, the Skene’s glands and the deep internal parts of the clitoris are packed closely behind it, a region some researchers call the clitourethrovaginal complex. The Skene’s glands are one component of that area, not the whole explanation.

What do Skene's glands do?

Their function is not firmly established. The leading proposals are that they release a small amount of lubricating fluid at the urethral opening during arousal, that their secretions may help protect the urethra from bacteria, and that they contribute the PSA-containing fluid seen in female ejaculation. Each idea has some supporting evidence, but none is proven, largely because the glands are tiny, variable between individuals, and rarely studied.

Where are the Skene's glands located?

They sit on either side of the urethral opening, just above the entrance to the vagina, with their ducts opening at roughly the five and seven o’clock positions around the urethra. The glandular tissue extends a short distance along the lower urethra within the front wall of the vagina. In a healthy state they cannot be seen or felt. They are distinct from the Bartholin’s glands, which lie lower, beside the vaginal opening.

What are the symptoms of a Skene's gland cyst or infection?

A blocked duct forms a smooth swelling beside the urethral opening that may be painless or may push the urethra aside, causing a spraying stream or discomfort during sex. Infection adds burning with urination, urgency, tenderness and sometimes discharge, which is easily mistaken for a bladder infection that keeps returning. A hot, painful lump suggests an abscess. Fever, inability to urinate, or blood in the urine should be seen the same day.

Is squirting the same as female ejaculation?

Research suggests they are two different things. Female ejaculation refers to a small volume of thicker fluid containing PSA and other Skene’s gland proteins. Squirting involves a much larger volume of clear fluid; a 2015 ultrasound study found the bladder filled during arousal and emptied at the moment of release, and the fluid resembled dilute urine with a small Skene’s gland contribution. Neither is abnormal, and neither is necessary for a healthy sex life.

References

• MedlinePlus – Prostate Diseases
• NIH NIDDK – Prostate Enlargement (Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia)
• CDC – About Prostate Cancer
• NHS – Prostate problems

This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a qualified doctor about your individual situation.