Women's Health Movement

For more than 30 years, the women's health movement has sought to change the way women's bodies are viewed, and to allow women to be actively involved in their own health care. Many women's health needs are different from those of men. Pregnancy and childbirth, menstruation, menopause and cervical cancer are examples of health issues which are specific to women. The worldwide women's health movement developed as a result of women getting together to discuss common health issues and problems, and to take action.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the major concern of the women's health movement was birth control and abortion. However, this perspective soon expanded as it became clear that there was widespread dissatisfaction with existing health services and ideas about women's health and well-being. Over the last 30 years, the ongoing concerns of the women's health movement have included:

• The 'medicalisation' of normal events body such as birthing and menopause.
• A tendency to treat social and emotional problems experienced by women as if they were medical problems.
• The failure of many health service providers to give women the information necessary to make informed choices about their health care.
• The emphasis on women's reproductive role, rather than on their total health.
• The trivialisation of women's legitimate and common health concerns (eg., menstrual problems).
• The emphasis on the treatment of disease rather than its prevention (1).
  

The women's health movement has encouraged the delivery of 'women-friendly' health care by setting up community based women-specific services. Equally important has been the collaboration with the general health care system to ensure it responds to women's health needs more effectively. The women's health movement has also played a significant role in relating women's experiences of their health and health care to government and policy makers. The view which acknowledges that men's and women's health concerns and needs are different has lead women's health activists to argue strongly that health policy should acknowledge the relevance of the wider social and psychological setting of health.

Women's Health Centres - a brief history

The establishment of community based women-specific services has been an important outcome of the women's health movement. Services such as these are an attempt to deliver health care to women in a way which reflects their individual and cultural circumstances.

On International Women's Day in March 1974, the first Australian women's health centre was officially opened in New South Wales (2). All over the country, women felt the need for a different kind of health care, resulting in the establishment of community based women's health centres, run for women by women. During this early period, most funding was granted by the Federal Government through the Community Health Program in the expectation that individual state governments would gradually take up this responsibility. However, many centres still struggled to receive either state or Federal funding.

When the Federal Government changed in 1975, the Community Health Program finished and many centres fell on hard times with several losing funding. However, women's need for this type of health service did not go away and during the lean funding years from 1976-1982 many centres totally depended on donations, fundraising income and the use of volunteer labour. Some managed to get limited funding from other sources. It was during this period in 1982 that Brisbane Women's Community Health Centre (known now as Women's Health Queensland Wide) started offering services to women.

As the women's health movement gained momentum, between 1983 and 1989, more than 18 centres opened around the country. Those which operated in places with a state government resistant to the community health movement continued to struggle for funding (3).

The women's health movement's work of providing services to women, as well as influencing health policy, culminated in the introduction of the National Women's Health Policy and funding program in 1989. This important policy signified the Commonwealth's encouragement for state governments to support women's health initiatives. It also ensured that women's health issues had an ongoing national focus.

Currently, women's health centres are funded jointly by both state and Federal governments through the Public Health Funding Outcomes Agreement (PHFOA). The 30-year history and extensive work of women's health centres have resulted in a greater awareness of women's health in the general community. It has been suggested that as health services improve their service delivery to women, the goals of the women's health movement are being achieved.

So, where to from here for the women's health movement?

Whilst improvements have been important, women continue to express concern about their treatment and experiences in dealing with the health care system, including their local doctor, hospital, the community health centre and so on.

The women's health movement has at times provoked opposition due to its focus on change and its criticism of policy and services which disadvantage women. A 1992 legal challenge to Canberra women's health services was based on the grounds that it discriminated against men. This unsuccessful challenge highlighted the fact that women specific services are still needed as, despite many gains, women are still significantly disadvantaged in their personal health and well-being.

For example:

• Women use health services more frequently than men (4). They require health services for contraception, pregnancy and childbirth, preventative screening and as carers for children, the elderly and disabled.
• Women live longer than men and, therefore, are more likely to develop chronic and degenerative conditions like dementia, osteoarthritis and vision disorders (5).
• Many women are socially disadvantaged - they often earn less than men, do approximately two thirds of the unpaid work in Australian households (6) and are recipients of 91.5% of sole parent pensions (7).
• From the age of 35 women are more likely to have a mental disorder than men (8).

Community based women's health centres continue to provide services which meet women's specific needs and offer an independent and critical perspective. They can be cost-effective in reducing the need for tertiary services by addressing health problems early and are popular with a whole range of women, including those who may not use other services.

References

For further information sources on this topic see our Internet resources for assignments page.

This student factsheet is one of a series produced by Women's Health Queensland Wide. They have been developed in response to students' most frequently asked questions and reflect a range of topics examined by high school and tertiary students. It has been reviewed by our Editorial Committee. This factsheet is designed for student assignment purposes and, therefore, may not be an appropriate source of information for personal use.

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Last Modified: November 14, 2007