Redefining Women's Health

Abstract

Reuben went so far as to say of postmenopausal women: Having outlived their ovaries, they may have outlived their usefulness as human beings. The remaining years may be just marking time until they follow their glands into oblivion. The 1960s and 1970s brought about major changes for women, including the publication of historic books, such as Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique in 1963 and Our Bodies, Ourselves, published by the Boston Women's Health Collective in 1971. And in 1973, the landmark Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade provided a legal right to abortion. The women's health movement raised the issues of childbirth education, natural methods of childbirth, and birthing options, including fathers' participation in labor and delivery and home births. Awakened to the fact that women were their major customers, hospitals began establishing women's health resource centers. More recently, women have been advocating for health services and policies that address reproductive freedom, contraceptive options, domestic violence, and research on breast disease, menopause, osteoporosis, hormone replacement therapy, premenstrual syndrome, heart disease, and human immunodeficiency virus.