Testosterone in women: where it comes from and what it does
Yes, women produce testosterone. Where it is made, how much compared with men, what it does, and why a blood test cannot settle whether yours is low.
Written and evidence-checked by the VeriNourish Editorial Team against 4 named sources listed below. No licensed clinician reviews this content.
Testosterone gets filed as a male hormone, which is why the question people actually type is whether women have any at all. You do. It is an androgen, every woman produces it, and it matters for desire, mood, muscle and bone even at concentrations a fraction of a man's.
Where it comes from
The short answer most sources give is "the ovaries and the adrenal glands." That is true and incomplete, and the missing part explains a lot.
The ovaries produce testosterone. The adrenal glands produce testosterone. But about half of the testosterone circulating in a woman's body is made outside both, by converting androgen precursors such as DHEA and androstenedione into testosterone in other tissues, including fat, skin and muscle (Journal of Women's Health, 2021).
Two things follow from that. Removing the ovaries lowers testosterone sharply but does not remove it, because half the supply never came from there. And body composition is part of the system rather than a bystander, since some of the conversion happens in fat tissue.
There is a final step worth knowing: most of the testosterone a woman makes is converted onward into estradiol, the main estrogen (Cleveland Clinic). Testosterone is not only a hormone in its own right in women. It is also the raw material for the one usually thought of as female.
How much, compared with a man
Roughly ten to thirty times less. Cleveland Clinic gives a general female range of 15 to 46 ng/dL, against 409 to 558 ng/dL for men aged 20 to 24 (Cleveland Clinic).
That gap is not a footnote. It is the reason the next section exists, because measuring a hormone accurately at those concentrations is a genuinely hard laboratory problem.
What it does
- Libido, one of the stronger drivers of sexual desire in women
- Energy, mood and motivation
- Muscle strength and lean mass
- Bone density, working alongside estrogen against thinning
- Red blood cell production
Because it touches so many systems, a dip tends to show up as tiredness or low desire long before anyone thinks to test for it.
How levels change with age
Testosterone starts drifting down from your 30s. By the time you reach menopause, levels may have fallen to about half of what they once were (Cleveland Clinic). That decline is gradual and normal, and it is separate from the sharper estrogen drop of menopause itself.
Having both ovaries removed is different: it causes a sudden fall rather than a slow one, which is why some women notice a change in desire and energy after that surgery.
Low or high: what the signs look like
| Low testosterone | High testosterone | |
|---|---|---|
| Common signs | Low sex drive, ongoing tiredness, muscle weakness, low mood, sleep problems | Unwanted facial or body hair, acne, scalp thinning, irregular periods |
| Usual cause | Gradual decline, or both ovaries removed | PCOS, often alongside insulin resistance |
| Worth ruling out first | Thyroid problems, iron deficiency, depression, poor sleep, perimenopause | Rarely, an adrenal or ovarian tumor if levels are very high or rise fast |
Low testosterone is hard to pin down precisely because its signs are so ordinary. Cleveland Clinic makes the point directly: the symptoms mimic depression, thyroid problems and low iron, and hormone levels shift across the menstrual cycle and even between morning and evening (Cleveland Clinic). A single low reading rarely explains everything, which is why a careful doctor rules out fatigue drivers and the shifts of perimenopause first.
Why a blood test cannot settle this on its own
This is the part that private "low T" panels aimed at women tend not to mention, and it rests on two independent findings.
The first is that the assays are not built for you. Laboratory androgen assays were originally calibrated to measure male levels, and calibration studies to develop a female androgen assay were never carried out (Diagnostics, 2023). The ISSWSH guideline puts it more bluntly still: direct assays for total and free testosterone are highly unreliable in the female range, they have not been standardized nationally or internationally, and different laboratories can report substantially different concentrations for the same sample (Journal of Women's Health, 2021).
The second is that even a trustworthy number would not carry the meaning people expect. The same guideline states there is no definitive testosterone cutoff that identifies women with sexual dysfunction, and no absolute androgen level that signals it.
None of that makes testing pointless. It is genuinely useful when the question is whether testosterone is high, because the levels involved are further from the noise, and because the answer changes what happens next. It also matters that hormonal contraception raises SHBG and makes biochemical assessment unreliable (Diagnostics, 2023), so mention it if you are on hormonal contraception. What a number cannot do is confirm that low testosterone is why you feel tired.
If your result is measured, it is read alongside SHBG, the protein that binds testosterone, because the fraction that is free and active matters more than the total. Morning draws are preferred, since levels are highest then.
High testosterone and PCOS
High testosterone is the more visible of the two, and its usual driver is PCOS. Under the Rotterdam criteria, hyperandrogenism counts as a diagnostic feature whether it shows clinically, as unwanted hair growth, acne or scalp thinning, or biochemically in blood (Diagnostics, 2023). Two of three criteria are needed for the diagnosis, so a raised androgen level on its own is not PCOS.
PCOS often travels with insulin resistance, which is why it is treated as a metabolic condition as much as a hormonal one.
What about testosterone treatment?
There is one evidence-based use in women, and it is narrower than the marketing around it: distressing low sexual desire after menopause. Our low libido guide sets out what the guideline actually specifies, including the dose, the timeline for judging whether it works, and the monitoring involved. Testosterone did not improve bone density, body composition or cognition in the evidence reviewed, so those are not reasons to start it.
When to see a doctor
- A lasting drop in libido that bothers you
- New acne, unwanted hair growth, scalp thinning or irregular periods, which point to the high side rather than the low
- Tiredness and low mood that have not been explained, where the useful first tests are usually thyroid and iron rather than testosterone
Bring the pattern rather than a single lab number. Given how the assays behave in the female range, context is doing more work here than the figure on the page.
Frequently asked questions
Do women produce testosterone?
Yes. It is an androgen, not a male hormone, and every woman makes it. The ovaries and the adrenal glands both produce it, and about half of what circulates is made outside those glands altogether, by converting precursor hormones in tissues such as fat, skin and muscle. Most of it then converts onward into estradiol, the main estrogen.
Where is testosterone produced in females?
In three places rather than one. The ovaries make some, the adrenal glands make some, and roughly 50 percent of circulating testosterone comes from peripheral conversion of androgen precursors like DHEA and androstenedione in other tissues. That is why removing the ovaries lowers testosterone but does not remove it.
How much testosterone do women have compared with men?
Far less, by roughly ten to thirty times. Cleveland Clinic puts the general female range at 15 to 46 ng/dL, against 409 to 558 ng/dL for men aged 20 to 24. The low concentration is part of why measuring it accurately in women is difficult.
Can a blood test tell me if my testosterone is low?
Not reliably on its own. Guidelines state that direct assays for total and free testosterone are highly unreliable in the female range, that assays have not been standardized, and that different laboratories can report substantially different results for the same sample. There is also no agreed cutoff that defines low testosterone in women. A result is one input alongside your symptoms, not a verdict.
What causes high testosterone in women?
Most often polycystic ovary syndrome, where raised androgens show up as unwanted facial or body hair, acne and scalp thinning. Under the Rotterdam criteria, hyperandrogenism counts whether it is visible on examination or measured in blood. Rarer adrenal and ovarian causes exist and are worth investigating when levels are very high or rise quickly.
What are the symptoms of low testosterone in women?
Reduced sex drive, ongoing tiredness, muscle weakness, low mood and sleep problems are the ones usually listed. They overlap heavily with thyroid problems, iron deficiency, depression and perimenopause, which is why testosterone is rarely the whole explanation and rarely the first thing to test.
References
- Testosterone: what it is, function, levels and imbalances · Cleveland Clinic
- Low testosterone in women: causes, symptoms and treatment · Cleveland Clinic
- ISSWSH clinical practice guideline for the use of systemic testosterone for hypoactive sexual desire disorder in women · Journal of Women's Health, 2021
- Polycystic ovary syndrome: pathophysiology and controversies in diagnosis · Diagnostics (Basel), 2023