Women's Health

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Women's Health

Once upon a time, the many cultures of this world were all part of the gynocratic age. Paternity had not yet been discovered, and it was thought ... that women bore fruit like trees—when they were ripe. Childbirth was mysterious. It was vital. And it was envied. Women were worshipped because of it, were considered superior because of it.... Men were on the periphery—an interchangeable body of workers for, and worshippers of, the female center, the principle of life.

The discovery of paternity, of sexual cause and childbirth effect, was as cataclysmic for society as, say, the discovery of fire or the shattering of the atom. Gradually, the idea of male ownership of children took hold....

Gynocracy also suffered from the periodic invasions of nomadic tribes.... The conflict between the hunters and the growers was really the conflict between male-dominated and female-dominated cultures.

... women gradually lost their freedom, mystery, and superior position. For five thousand years or more, the gynocratic age had flowered in peace and productivity. Slowly, in varying stages and in different parts of the world, the social order was painfully reversed. Women became the underclass, marked by their visible differences.

WOMEN'S HEALTH

Dale Gibler

Historical Perspectives

· Earliest Cultures

o matriarchal, matrilineal, partnerships

o men & women equal role

o power to women: fertility emblems, "spinners of destiny, associated with justice, wisdom and intelligence, and the arts as well as reproduction" Lewis & Bernstein, 1996

· 3000 years ago - elimination of Minoan culture - society became patriarchal, patrilinear, warrior cultures

· Later - less nomadic; acquired property, property right...

... middle of paper ...

...on have inadequate coverage

· Women who do not receive prenatal care are three times more likely to have low-birth-weight babies

Women's Needs

· Young girl

o health teaching-menstruation

o sexuality & personal responsibility

· Adolescent

o reproductive choices

o safe sexual activity

o health care practices (breast exams, pap smears)

· Women

o self care issues

o changes that accompany childbirth and aging

Women's Health

· "Let the world alone awhile. We cannot bring about a moral revolution in a day or year. Now that I have two daughters, I feel fresh strength to work. It is not in vain that in myself I have experienced all the wearisome cares to which woman in her best estate is subject." Elizabeth Cady Stanton in a letter to Susan B. Anthony, June 10, 1856

· "Always be ready to take a chance: look what it did for Rocky." Forrest Gump, 1994

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