Health Culture
...to employment opportunities at all levels in the economy, promoting change in the perception of women's roles and status, and gaining a public voice both within and outside political process.
There have been various attempts at social and legal reform aimed at improving women's lives during the twentieth century. Indeed there may be contradictions inherent in the gender agenda of some nationalist projects, yet more and more steps are being taken so women can participate actively in programs especially in the area of the physical sciences. This is an area where women are now becoming more and more recognized. In the nineteenth century there was a struggle to introduce female education, to ease some of the restrictions on women's activities. Yet more and more, women began to be active participants and many of the earliest proponents of education improved social status for women. They advocated cooking and sewing classes conducted in a religious framework to advance women's knowledge and skills. Feminists campaigned for increased breast cancer research, more convenient and cheaper contraceptive methods. Research on the physiology of menopause and elimination of unnecessary surgical interventions such as hysterectomies, Cesarean sections and radical mastectomies. These campaigns were supported by several advocacy groups. In 1990 the U.S. National Institute of Health established the Office of Research on Women's Health and launched the Women's Health Initiative to redress gender inequities in medical research. (Creager & Schiebinger).
For the women in developing countries, for example, promoting the education of women was a first step in moving beyond the constraints. The nationalist struggle helped fray the threads in socially imposed curtains. Simultaneously, women's roles were questioned, and their empowerment was linked to the larger issues of nationalism...
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