Revolutionizing Womens Healthcare

Winner of the 2021 Frances Richardson Keller-Sierra Prize from the Western Association of Women Historians (WAWH)​ Revolutionizing Women’s Healthcare is the story of a feminist experiment: the self-help movement. This movement arose out of women’s frustration, anger, and fear for their health. Tired of visiting doctors who saw them as silly little girls, suffering shame when they asked for birth control, seeking abortions in back alleys, and holding little control over their own reproductive lives, women took action. Feminists created “self-help groups” where they examined each other’s bodies and read medical literature. They founded and ran clinics, wrote books, made movies, undertook nationwide tours, and raided and picketed offending medical institutions. Some performed their own abortions. Others swore off pharmaceuticals during menopause. Lesbian women found “at home” ways to get pregnant. Black women used self-help to talk about how systemic racism affected their health. Hannah Dudley-Shotwell engagingly chronicles these stories and more to showcase the creative ways women came together to do for themselves what the mainstream healthcare system refused to do.

Pre-publication subtitle: how sexism in healthcare kills women.

Unlocking Women's Health by Dr. Brittany Barreto invites readers on an illuminating journey through the dynamic landscape of femtech. This comprehensive guide explores sixteen pivotal areas of women's health, from menopause to cancer, revealing the challenges and innovations shaping the industry. As you read, you'll gain a deep understanding of femtech's essence and its potential to transform lives. Discover a curated selection of pioneering companies that are revolutionizing women's healthcare globally. The book is enriched with insights from Dr. Barreto's FemTech Focus podcast, featuring conversations with leading doctors, researchers, and innovators. Launched during the 2020 lockdowns, this podcast has evolved into a vital platform for knowledge dissemination, reaching listeners in 148 countries. Dr. Barreto's expertise shines through as she illuminates the critical importance of incorporating sex and gender considerations in healthcare, science, and innovation. This book serves as both a resource and a call to action, empowering readers to advocate for equity in healthcare.

In 1948, the Constitution of the World Health Organization declared, “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” Yet this idea was not predominant in the United States immediately after World War II, especially when it came to women’s reproductive health. Both legal and medical institutions—and the male legislators and physicians who populated those institutions—reinforced women’s second class social status and restricted their ability to make their own choices about reproductive health care. In More Than Medicine, Jennifer Nelson reveals how feminists of the ‘60s and ‘70s applied the lessons of the new left and civil rights movements to generate a women’s health movement. The new movement shifted from the struggle to revolutionize health care to the focus of ending sex discrimination and gender stereotypes perpetuated in mainstream medical contexts. Moving from the campaign for legal abortion to the creation of community clinics and feminist health centers, Nelson illustrates how these activists revolutionized health care by associating it with the changing social landscape in which women had power to control their own life choices. More Than Medicine poignantly reveals how social justice activists in the United States gradually transformed the meaning of health care, pairing traditional notions of medicine with less conventional ideas of “healthy” social and political environments.

Elle's 30 BEST BOOKS OF THE SUMMER "A jaw-dropping investigation into the women's health industry." —Shelf-Awareness "A fascinating examination of the past and present of women's healthcare" —Delfina V Barbiero, USA TODAY "A must-read for women, especially any woman who might ever need to see a doctor. " —The Washington Post American women visit more doctors, have more surgery, and fill more prescriptions than men. In Everything Below the Waist, Jennifer Block asks: Why is the life expectancy of women today declining relative to women in other high-income countries, and even relative to the generation before them? Block examines several staples of modern women's health care, from fertility technology to contraception to pelvic surgery to miscarriage treatment, and finds that while overdiagnosis and overtreatment persist in medicine writ large, they are particularly acute for women. One third of mothers give birth by major surgery; roughly half of women lose their uterus to hysterectomy. Feminism turned the world upside down, yet to a large extent the doctors' office has remained stuck in time. Block returns to the 1970s women's health movement to understand how in today's supposed age of empowerment, women's bodies are still so vulnerable to medical control—particularly their sex organs, and as result, their sex lives. In this urgent book, Block tells the stories of patients, clinicians, and reformers, uncovering history and science that could revolutionize the standard of care, and change the way women think about their health. Everything Below the Waist challenges all people to take back control of their bodies.

Meet the pioneering women who changed the medical landscape for us all For fans of Hidden Figures and Radium Girls comes the remarkable story of three Victorian women who broke down barriers in the medical field to become the first women doctors, revolutionising the way women receive health care. In the early 1800s, women were dying in large numbers from treatable diseases because they avoided receiving medical care. Examinations performed by male doctors were often demeaning and even painful. In addition, women faced stigma from illness--a diagnosis could greatly limit their ability to find husbands, jobs or be received in polite society. Motivated by personal loss and frustration over inadequate medical care, Elizabeth Blackwell, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Sophia Jex-Blake fought for a woman's place in the male-dominated medical field. For the first time ever, Women in White Coats tells the complete history of these three pioneering women who, despite countless obstacles, earned medical degrees and paved the way for other women to do the same. Though very different in personality and circumstance, together these women built women-run hospitals and teaching colleges - creating for the first time medical care for women by women. With gripping storytelling based on extensive research and access to archival documents, Women in White Coats tells the courageous history these women made by becoming doctors, detailing the boundaries they broke of gender and science to reshape how we receive medical care today.

Behind Every Great Rum Is a Powerful Woman “An essential book, which shows that women are taking an increasingly important place in the world of rum, that they can be very talented producers, but that there is still a lot to do in terms of gender equality.” —Rum Porter Once known as a sailor’s drink, rum has matured into a refined spirit. In some Caribbean countries, rum is offered as a libation to the gods. In others, it is aged and savored on the rocks. But in the most magical places, rum is distilled by women. Inside Rum Rebels, you’ll find personal anecdotes from master blenders, fabulous recipes for artisan rum cocktails, and the inside scoop on the magic behind Appleton, Zacapa, Cachaça Maria Izabel, Brugal, and more. The art of cocktails, rum, and women. A pirate staple, rum has been the drink of rebels since the Old World. Now, there’s a new generation of rebels —the business women curating the taste of today’s best rum companies. Part rum cocktail book, part ode to feminism, Rum Rebels is a story of female empowerment in a traditionally male-dominated industry. Looking at more than a dozen rum distilleries, each chapter of Rum Rebels profiles women in leadership, their rum, and the perfect cocktail pairing. Learn how rum is made. Alongside women leaders and pioneers, this worldwide master class explores everything from palates to aging, providing first-hand stories from today’s leading rum distilleries. Whether a beginner or a seasoned rum enthusiast, Rum Rebels is the perfect read for anyone curious about the craft of rum distilling, artisan cocktails, or female leaders in history. Grab a copy to learn how: At Appleton, Joy Spence becomes the first female master blender At Zacapa, Lorena Vasquez adorns her bottles with hand crafted palm leaves by Guatemalan women And more If you’re looking for rum cocktail books, women leadership books, women entrepreneur books, or women of color gifts —like the Smugglers Cove cocktail book, Women’s Libation cocktail book, And a Bottle of Rum book, or Drinking Like Ladies —you’ll love Rum Rebels.

Because women have different health needs than men, they experience the health care system differently. Women have higher morbidity, experiencing more disease and disability throughout the life span. At the same time, because women live longer, they are more susceptible to late-on-set disease, such as osteoporosis and dementia. Yet until recently, the question of gender equity in U.S. health care has received little attention.

Examines the real world of women's health status and health-care delivery in different countries, and the assumptions behind the dominant medical model of solving problems without regard to social conditions. This book asks what feminist health-care ethics looks like if we start with women's experiences and concerns.