Women's health movement in the United States facts for kids

The women's health movement (WHM) in the United States is a part of the American feminist movement that works to improve women's health and healthcare. It started during the 1960s and 1970s as a part of the women's liberation movement.

Activists in the WHM wanted to help women learn more about and have control over their own bodies. They focused on many topics, from health and wellness to challenging the traditional relationship between doctors and patients. They also worked to make sure medicines were safe for women to use.

Important groups in this movement include the Boston Women's Health Book Collective, the National Women's Health Network, and the Black Women's Health Imperative. The movement led to the creation of women's health centers and important legal cases that protected patients. Famous books like Our Bodies, Ourselves also came from this movement, giving women valuable health information.

The WHM focused on a wide range of health issues. It supported self-help, the use of alternative remedies when safe, and making health information easier for everyone to understand. A key goal was for women to have a say in how health clinics were run.

History of the Movement

The women's health movement was inspired by several earlier movements in the United States. These include the popular health movement of the 1830s and 1840s and the fight for women to become doctors and midwives in the late 1800s. It was also influenced by social movements of the 1960s that fought for fairness and civil rights.

Like other movements of the time, such as the environmental movement, the WHM questioned large corporations and the government. It stressed the need to protect people from dangers and believed in the idea of "Nothing About Us Without Us," meaning that the people affected by a decision should be part of making it.

The Women's Liberation Movement

The women's health movement grew directly out of the women's liberation movement of the late 1960s. This larger movement grew out of the struggle for civil rights. Members of the women's liberation movement believed that society needed to change its views on women's roles.

Instead of having one single organization, many small, independent groups formed. They wanted all women to have a voice and share their own ideas. A common activity was holding "consciousness-raising" meetings. In these meetings, women shared their personal stories and experiences.

By sharing their stories about healthcare, they realized that many of them had similar struggles. They talked about their experiences with doctors, childbirth, and other health topics. This led them to realize that these were not just personal problems, but bigger issues that needed to be solved. They decided to work together to change how the medical system treated women and their bodies.

Main Goals and Ideas

The WHM worked on many issues. These included fighting against unfair medical practices, and making childbirth safer. Activists created feminist health centers and self-help clinics to give women more healthcare options. They also worked to uncover the history of women in medicine and challenge unfairness in the healthcare system.

Activists felt that the relationship between women and their doctors was often unequal. They argued that the medical field was a powerful institution that sometimes controlled patients instead of helping them. Early writings from the movement claimed that healthcare cost too much and did not always treat patients with dignity or give them enough information to make their own choices.

Key Events from 1969 to 1973

The WHM was a grassroots movement, meaning it was started by ordinary people, not leaders at the top. Many different groups of women across the country began organizing around health issues at the same time.

The Dangers of DES

Diethylstilbestrol (DES) is a drug that was given to pregnant women from the 1930s to the 1970s. Doctors mistakenly believed it would prevent problems during pregnancy.

Belita Cowan, a student activist, began researching DES. She found medical studies showing that the drug could cause serious health problems in the children of women who took it. She organized a group called Advocates for Medical Information to educate women about the risks. In 1972, she held a press conference in Washington, D.C., to share her findings with the nation. This helped expose the dangers of the drug.

Our Bodies, Ourselves

In 1969, a group of twelve women in Boston attended a workshop called "Women and Their Bodies." They talked about their health and realized how little information was available to them. "We weren't encouraged to ask questions, but to depend on the so-called experts," said one of the organizers, Nancy Miriam Hawley.

The women decided to research health topics themselves. They wrote about anatomy, pregnancy, and other subjects. They also wrote about how to navigate the American healthcare system. Their goal was to create a guide that would help women understand their bodies, talk with doctors, and demand better care.

They first published their research in 1970 as a 136-page booklet called Women and Their Bodies. It was so popular that by 1973, they had sold 350,000 copies of a longer version, retitled Our Bodies, Ourselves. The women formed a non-profit group and made a deal with a major publisher, Simon & Schuster. The deal allowed them to keep full control over the book's content and sell it at a discount to health centers. The book included personal stories from women and discussed topics that were once considered taboo.

Learning About Women's Health

In 1971, activists Carol Downer and Lorraine Rothman began teaching women how to perform their own cervical self-exams using a plastic speculum. Downer was inspired after seeing how simple and accessible the cervix was during a medical procedure. She realized that if women could see and understand their own bodies, they would feel more powerful and less intimidated by doctors.

Downer and Rothman traveled across the country, holding demonstrations in 23 cities. They taught women how to do self-exams and shared health information. This tour helped start many self-help health groups and clinics, where women could learn about their bodies in a supportive environment.

Progress from 1974 to 1980

National Women's Health Network

In 1974, activists including Belita Cowan, Barbara Seaman, and Phyllis Chesler founded the National Women's Health Network. This organization became a powerful voice for women's health, advocating for safer medicine and better healthcare policies in Washington, D.C.

A New Approach to Breast Cancer

When journalist Rose Kushner was diagnosed with breast cancer, the standard treatment was a radical mastectomy. This was a major surgery where the entire breast, chest muscles, and lymph nodes were removed all at once. Kushner questioned this aggressive approach and had to search for a doctor who would perform a less invasive surgery.

After her recovery, Kushner wrote a book about her experience, originally titled Breast Cancer: A Personal History and Investigative Report. She criticized the one-step procedure and the overuse of radical mastectomies. She argued that women should have the right to choose their treatment after a diagnosis, not have it decided for them while they were under anesthesia.

Kushner became a fierce advocate for patients. She attended medical conferences, challenged doctors, and pushed for change. In 1975, she started a telephone hotline, the Breast Cancer Advisory Center, to give information and support to thousands of women.

In 1979, a panel at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), with Kushner as its only non-doctor member, recommended that radical mastectomies should no longer be the standard treatment. Thanks to her work, the one-step surgery also became far less common, giving patients more control over their care.

Making Medicine Fair for Everyone

More Women in Medical Schools

Two important laws, Title IX of the Higher Education Act Amendments of 1972 and the Public Health Service Act of 1975, banned gender discrimination in education and health programs that received federal money. These laws opened the doors for more women to enter the medical field.

The 1970s saw a huge increase in the number of women attending and graduating from medical school. Between 1970 and 1980, over 20,000 women graduated from medical school, more than in the previous 40 years combined. This was a result of both legal changes and a shift in cultural attitudes. By 2005, women made up about half of all medical students in the U.S.

Better Doctor-Patient Relationships

With more women becoming doctors, medical practices began to change, especially in fields like gynecology. Many female medical students felt that procedures like the pelvic exam were often handled in a way that was intimidating for patients.

In 1972, the University of Iowa Medical School started a new training program. Medical students would act as both the doctor and the patient for pelvic and breast exams. This helped them understand what the exam felt like and learn how to perform it in a more gentle and respectful way. By 1980, over 75 medical schools had adopted this new, more patient-friendly method.

Timeline of Key Events

• 1969: The Jane Collective begins its work in Chicago.
• 1971: Carol Downer's self-exam demonstration helps launch the self-help clinic movement.
• 1973: The Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade changes laws related to women's health choices. Our Bodies, Ourselves is published by a major publisher. The Jane Collective disbands.
• 1974: The National Women's Health Network is created.
• 1975: Rose Kushner publishes her influential book on breast cancer treatment.
• 1977: The Hyde Amendment is enacted, limiting federal funding for certain medical procedures.
• 1978: The Pregnancy Discrimination Act is passed to protect pregnant workers.
• 1990: The Society for Women's Health Research is created by Dr. Florence Pat Haseltine.
• 1991: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services creates the Office on Women's Health. Dr. Bernadine Healy, the first female director of the National Institutes of Health, announces the Women's Health Initiative.
• 1993: The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 is enacted.
• 1994: The Violence Against Women Act and the Mammography Quality Standards Act are enacted.

Notable people

Notable activists