PARTICIPANTS
The meeting brought together such a variety of women from so many lto reflect this in the report In this section, therefore, we have made a selection of self-descriptions given to us by the participating groups This is followed by a simple listing of participants' names and addresses by country.
Taller Salud
Apartado 8464 Estacion Fdesz. Juncos Santurce
00910 Puerto Rico.
Since December 1979, eight women have been organized on a volunteer basis. We all are concerned with the health care and the health of the Puerto Rican women. We translate information and print and reproduce information leaflets for distribution to women in different communities. We have also given workshops on different themes concerning women's reproductive health : sterilization, contraceptives, abortion, anatomy and physiology, vaginal diseases, surgery on the reproductive system, and self-help and self-examinations. We have also tried to deal with occupational health. We have a file of information concerning women's health, aggression, work, etc. Our plans for the future could include a women's self-help center and / or a resource center. Funding will be our major obstacle.
Frente de Mulheres Feministas
Sao Paolo Brazil.
We are a group of about fifty women. The group started in 1979 with weekly meetings to discuss women's condition. In 1980 we promoted a series of public debates on a wide range of topics : women and the political parties, women and violence, abortion, prostitution, women and the labor laws, women and the family laws, and so on. We supported prostitutes in their resistance to police violence. We have published a book on abortion and we have participated in a wide number of discussions with women's and student groups on TV and in the press. These discussions deal mostly with abortion and with the family code, for which we have prepared an alternative project which will be sent to the Senate after it is discussed thoroughly with all the other feminist groups. (There are about fifty all over the country).
In May 1981 we rented a house where we hold our meetings, and where we intend to have health services available, under the responsibility of another feminist group, Pro-Mulheres. We have helped them to develop a project and they are looking for funds.
Voluntary Health Association of India
C-14 Community Centre Safdarjung Development Area
New Dehli 110016 India.
VHAI is a coordinating body of hospitals, dispensaries, and rural health centers in the nongovernmental (voluntary) sector. It is a non-profit organisation whose main activities include training in hospital administration, community health and development, nurse anaesthesia, auxiliary nurse midwifery, and transsection analysis; consultancy in planning, implementation and evaluation of programs in both hospitals and community health centres; and changing curricula at the national level, as for example the auxiliary nurse / midwives course. Its publications include health education materials, books, and communication material. These are produced in both English and the regional language.
National Nurses Association of Kenya
National Secretary's Office
P.O. Box 49422 Nairobi Kenya.
This is an association that oversees the welfare of the nurses and their condition of work. It is the voice through which the nurses air their views.
In 1978 the association began forming groups in rural areas to involve rural women to participate in activities that take care of their own health. Its two main activities are training community health workers, i.e. traditional healers, midwives, and village health workers, and health education and community health nursing.
Some of the groups that the association works with include women's groups at the local level, breast-feeding, and mothers unions. The association has eleven branches throughout the country.
Shirkal Gah
c/o Farida Shaheed
7B 7th Central Street Defence - Phase II
Karachi Pakistan.
Shirkal Gah (Women's Resource Centre) consists of approximately twelve formal members, all of whom are volunteer workers and most of whom work full-time elsewhere. Shirkal Gah can however plug into a network of fifty to a hundred women for specific projects. Since the organisation is formally so small, and does not accept financial assistance, it has had to restrict itself to a few projects while aiding and providing services to other on-going projects. Recently, for example, Shirkal Gah has undertaken to assist a welfare clinic in Karachi with its female patients and a programme for health and hygiene education amongst the female population.
In the last few years Shirkal Gah has concentrated on compiling a manual for semi-literate women (Urdu tradition) containing information on a) occupations open to women and their requirements, b) legal rights in marriage and inheritance, and c) health, how to recognize common aliments, how to conduct self-examinations, first aid, etc. Many of the members write for journals and newspapers on issues pertaining to women.
It is hoped that a branch of Shirkal Gah will soon be opening in Lahore. In Lahore Shirkal Gah hopes to provide a support network for an all-female lawyers group which provides free legal services to women who cannot otherwise afford them.
(Note : Shirkat Gah has no formal structure in the sense of a governing group and since it is so small decisions are taken by the members as a whole).
Rural Women's Health Group
Rural Development Society
15/1, Periya Melamaiyur
Vallam Post, Chingleput-603002
South India.
The group has been functioning since June 1980. It consists of a core group of eight women of which six are from the villages of Chingleput district of Tamilnadu, South India. These six women belong to agricultural labour or peasant families, but have had at least eight years of schooling, and began to work two years back in their villages as adult educators for women. The remaining two in the group are young women originally from the city and college-educated, but who started work in the villages three years back in 1978 as part of the nation's massive literacy drive. The drive came to an end in 1980 with a change in the government, but work that had started initially as a literacy campaign had evolved into discussion groups with women. These groups met regularly to discuss a wide range of issues directly affecting women — from the lack of basic amenities and what action should be taken for it, to equal wages for the same work in agriculture.
It was, however, only in June of 1980 that discussions began on a systematic basis about women's bodies and their health, and also children's health as a necessary corollary. Meetings have been held once every week in eight villages, and discussions so far have been on puberty, menstruation, conception, pregnancy, childbirth and miscarriage, and abortion. Charts and flash cards with detailed diagrams have been prepared, and a genuine attempt is made to bring into the open the fears and doubts plaguing the minds of these women. It was only after several meetings that an "open" (relatively) atmosphere began to emerge, and instead of being question and answer periods, the sessions became genuine discussions where we exchanged thoughts and feelings as "women", though from different backgrounds. The response to these meetings has been encouraging. We have maintained for our own evaluation a detailed report of each of these sessions, and would be glad to share it with other groups.
Discussion about lack of adequate health care facilities has also led women in some villages to organise themselves and act to demand their rights. They have made representations to the Primary Health Centres of the government and successfully led an immunization programme for pregnant mothers and children under five, and have also succeeded in some villages in seeing to it that the "Health Visitor" of the government's Health Centre pays regular visits to pregnant mothers and children under five. Broader and more important issues such as protected drinking water supply and latrine facilities have been frequently represented to the local officials, but to no avail. The women are increasingly becoming aware of the causes of ill-health that are rooted in their conditions of living — poor amenities, very low wages and so on — and we hope that alongside increasing control over their bodies an themselves they would begin to organise towards increasing control over the structures that enslave them.
Women's Health Centre
Solostraat 1
Amsterdam Netherlands.
The Women's Health Centre (WHC) opened in November 1979. It was initiated by two women who were dissatisfied with the regular, traditional health service. They didn't like to work in it and they didn't like to be users of it.
The traditional health service is part of, and heavily influenced by, a society that dictates certain roles for men and women — roles which are very oppressive for women. The fact that most doctors (figures of authority) are male makes a doubly difficult for women to face them. In addition, doctors are rarely involved in sharing their knowledge. On the contrary, they try most of the time to keep as much of their knowledge to themselves as possible. Because of the role women are forced into, they do not learn to be strong and to demand their rights.
How does the WHC work ?
We work on the principle that women do know a lot about their own bodies, their own health, their own lives. That means that we, the women who work in the WHC, aren't
experts on other women's problems and lives. We can't solve problems for other women. What we can do is to give women the information we have and support them with our own experiences as a basis.
On the other hand, we learn of other women's experiences. We regard "health" quite broadly : it is more than being "not-ill", and has a lot to do with the situation in which you are living. Your house, your relations with other people, the way you eat, your work (or your unemployment), in short, your whole way of living influences whether you feel healthy, emotionally and physically, or not.
The internal organisation
The women who work in the WHC are divided into five basic groups :
— the "medical" group consisting of 9 women, who think and talk and gather information about specific problems of women in the traditional health service, such as breast and womb problems, menstruation, menopause, migraine etc. In short, all the subjects women do know a lot about themselves if they manage to be more in contact with
their own bodies.
— the "legal" group which is dealing with women's rights. They gather information about unemployment money, sickness benefits, taxes, women's rights in the case of
divorce, rape, etc.
— the "buurtgroup" which is a group of women who live or lived in the neighbourhood where the WHC is located. They gather information about housing problems of the
neighbourhood (because houses are often knocked down and rebuilt with expensive rents) since this has an important influence on a woman's life (she is often the one who
spends most of her time in the house).
— the "lesbian" group whose aims are : to break the standard of "forced heterosexuality" (too often all women are considered to be heterosexual); and to create a place for
lesbian women where they can talk about questions, ideas and problems with other lesbian women.
— "group for foreign women" which gives Turkish, Moroccan and Dutch lessons to Turkish and Moroccan women. During the lessons subjects like health, legal and social
problems are sometimes discussed.
All women in the WHC work on a voluntary basis. Most women have jobs or studies outside the WHC, which means that they don't have a lot of time to spend on the centre.The experiences and information gathered in all of the groups are shared among all the women of the WHC by means of information evenings and leaflets.
There are also "organising" groups which take care of the finances, the coordination, the library, publicity etc. of the centre.
Actions
During the organisation of the general women's strike against the new (restrictive) abortion law on the 30th March, the WHC was an action centre (together with many others all over Holland).
The WHC is also involved in, and supports other actions like the national action on Depo Provera.
Future Plans, our "ideal"
During our discussions the idea of a women's hospital has been mentioned several times. This hospital would be run by and for women and equipped to perform all medical
treatment. The idea would be to work with feminist female doctors, specializing in specifically women-oriented problems like abortion, and to give good information to women during their stay in the hospital, and to operate on the basic principles of self-help.
Women's Health Group
c/o B7 88/1 Safdarjung Enclave
New Dehli - 110029 India
Recently some of us concerned about women's health, reproduction and the orientation of health care services for women, had a meeting. A lot of activities undertaken by women's groups are anti something, anti-rape, anti-dowry, anti-sexual harassment. These activities are important, but we felt we also need to discuss what we as concerned and aware women should actively advocate. What are we for? In which area of women's life do we want to take some positive action?
Women's health and reproduction, we feel, is an area where work needs to be done. We agreed that for a woman awareness and control of her body was most important along with her relationship with her children. We women need to know much more about our bodies, about reproduction, preparation for child birth, so that we can increasingly be in control of our own bodies. We also need to know how and when the present medical system and big companies undermine the health and well being of people (especially women and children) in order to increase their profits. For example, it is now established that natural childbirth and breastfeeding are beneficial to both mother and child. But the present medical system backed and bribed by the big companies and the vicious propaganda by big companies is misleading women. The profit oriented medical system is taking women away from natural, more scientific and cheaper methods of child birth and child rearing .
We felt that as women we need to get together to discuss all such issues related to our bodies, our health, children and families. We need to talk to each other and help each other.
From older women we need to learn about some of the traditional methods used to improve women's health. We need to learn about indigeous systems of medicine.
Although we are addressing ourselves to the health needs of women, we recognize that the role of the husband and father, mother, mother-in-law, and the entire family structure are crucial to the wellbeing of both mother and child. Their support and involvement is welcome.
As a first and concrete step towards the realisation of our concerns we thought we would start by organising prenatal workshops for pregnant women. In these workshops women would meet, say once a month, to share their feelings, fears, joys, to discuss their problems, to learn about reproduction and natural child-birth and to prepare themselves for a natural childbirth. In the group which met there were two women who have already been organising pre-natal classes to prepare women for natural childbirth.
Other activities could then follow.
Nalini Bhanot, Dr. Sathyamala, Kamla Mankekar, Nalini Singh, Nutan Pandit, Janet Chawla, Kamla Bhasin.
MLAC — Mouvement pour la Liberalisation de I'Avortement et de la Contraception
9, rue Nouestre Seigno
13200 Aix-en-Provence
France.
c/o Roselyn Tisset
22, rue Gustave Belony
59790 Ponchin, France.
CEP
44, rue Saint-Georges
69005 Lyon, France.
The MLAC of Aix-en-Provence started in 1973 like most of the MLAC groups in France - to help women get abortions and to fight for the right to have free abortion and contraception on demand. But it has continued its work in spite of the liberalised abortion laws of 1975 and 1979.
The group emphasizes non-medicalisation and training of women amongst themselves. The practical experience and knowledge about their bodies gained in this way, both vis-avis abortion and contraception, has now led them to get involved in and start to have control over childbirth.
In 1977, six members of the group were charged with practicing illegal abortion regularly. They were suspended for illegal medical practice. But the trial created an extraordinary feeling of solidarity among women, and led ultimately to the making of a full-strength film, "Regarde, elle a les yeux grand ouverts" (Look, her eyes are wide open). This film traces the history of the MLAC of Aix and the lives of the women who were and still are involved in it.
There are two other MLAC groups still practicing abortion : one in Lille and one in Lyon. The MLAC of Lyon is an outgrowth of the one in Aix, and works on much the same
lines. It has been in existence for two years and has also now started working more on childbirth. Several groups for pregnant women have been meeting this year. In addition to giving abortion and inserting lUD's, the group also puts a lot of information on contraception, using two short films made by the MLAC of Aix as a basic educational tool.
Mujeres en la Lucha
A.A. 52206 Bogota
Colombia
The group started in 1977 with a number of women who had already been involved in groups, organizations, unions or political parties and had managed to raise questions about the situation of women. This experience had enabled us to make an analysis of our lives both private and public. We saw the need to go beyond the individual and to share our experiences and ideas with other women who, for various reasons, had not been able to confront or reflect on their oppression.
Our objectives are : to stimulate women to reflect and then to organize; to reflect on our relationships amongst ourselves and with others; to conduct workshops with women of different class backgrounds, centering on the problems of health, sexuality and the family; to develop a theory on the situation of women; and to establish contact with feminist groups at both the national and international level in order to share experiences and to plan and carry out joint projects.
Accion para la Liberacion de la Mujer Peruana (ALIMUPER)
A.A.2211
Lima, Peru.
ALIMUPER is a socialist-feminist movement. That is to say, it is anti-patriarchal and anti-capitalist.ALIMUPER gives women who until now have not come together, the possibility of exchanging experiences and the solidarity of meeting as a socially oppressed group.
ALIMUPER is an autonomous group which recognizes that women are a socially oppressed sector with specific forms of oppression and that, because of this, women must develop their own line of action.ALIMUPER sees this line of action as one of converting the sphere of private life into public revolutionary and political struggle. Only in this way will the patriarchal, capitalist system be exposed : sexuality, the relationship of couples, the nuclear family, monogamous marriage, the ideology of maternity, sexist education of children etc.
ALIMUPER believes that everything private is political. For this reason it struggles against the capitalist patriarchal system that values men over women. It struggles against division of work by sex; it struggles for control and decision-making power over our bodies, for the transformation of the State, the family and the Church, and for women to obtain autonomy as individual human beings, and not as children, sisters, wives, or mothers.
Objectives
To investigate, discuss and expose from a feminist perspective everything to do with health, and to create the possibility for women to confront and discuss these issues : the relationship of the couple, whether or not to have children, abortion, mental and physical violence of husbands.
ALIMUPER is currently working to create an information centre for women's health because of the following :
— the total ignorance of women with respect to their bodies and their bodies' functions;
— the great importance of health education in the prevention of illness and death in women and children;
— the inadequacy of health services which cannot even provide curative medicine, much less give information;
— our meagre knowledge of the reality of women's health in the country as a whole.
The centre is an institution of popular education and fills two broad functions : research; and the preparation of films or slides and illustrated pamphlets on such themes as : the young woman, the sick woman, contraception, problems of violence against women, drugs. It is open to all women in the Lima area and especially concentrates on the needs of women in the suburbs.
Manushi
CI / 202 Lajpat Nagar 1
First Floor New Dehli 110024
India
A feminist group in New Dehli brings out a journal about women and society called Manushi. Manushi hopes to provide a medium for women to speak out, to raise questions in their minds, to generate a widespread debate, and to move towards a shared understanding for a common struggle. Manushi hopes to bring women's organisations and activities in touch with each other. Manushi wants to reach women everywhere who want to break out of passivity and isolation. We also want to inquire into and re-evaluate the historical experience of women the world over. And we want to counter the systematic distortion of life situations and images of women and the trivialization of women's issues carried on by the mass media.
With regard to health issues for Indian women we would like to highlight the following : 1) The declining sex ratio due to neglect and severe malnutrition among women. This neglec is institutionalized in the family by taking women last to see a doctor, women eating last and least, and so on. Women bearthe brunt of starvation and drought because being the gatherers and water carriers, they have to labour more when the conditions are worse but get less of the scant resources. Thus, all the general issues of poverty — the lack of drinkable water, etc. - are also specifically women's issues. 2) The neglect and devaluation of infant girls leading to the present increasing gap in mortality rates (30 to 60 percent higher among baby girls than boys). It may be outright violence in some cases, deliberate exposure or underfeeding, or just culturally institutionalized neglect. Mothers of girls are stigmatized. They do not give girls care and affection because they know the girl child will become a reason for them to be tortured. In many cases the mother's milk dries up when the baby is a girl through fear of the consequences for herself. 3) The very low proportion of hospital beds allocated for women - especially maternity beds — and the appallingly low number of primary health centres and the unsafe conditions for women doctors and nurses in rural areas. The latter — by discouraging female staff — has repercussions on female patients who would be allowed to die rather than be taken to a male doctor.
YIS Jl. Kenanga 163
Solo Indonesia
YIS, the Indonesian Welfare Foundation is a private agency whose major focus at present is a nutrition program. An important part of this program is the training of volunteers. After completing the training program, each woman becomes a local consultant on health and nutrition for about ten families in her village. Village health care is important because 65 percent of Indonesian people live in villages. Most doctors, however, being middle-class, do not want to live in the villages. They either live in the cities, or leave Indonesia for Germany, where they can make more money.
Emma Wibowo, who works with YIS, sees two problems with the volunteer program. The first is that the education aides are usually younger that the mothers they work with since the aides are often drop-outs from regular school who haven't yet married themselves. Village women will accept nutrition and some health advice from the volunteers, but not information on birth control or child care. The mothers do not trust the aides in these area since the younger women do not have the practical experience of the mothers themselves.
The other problem Emma Wibowo sees is the lack of self confidence. She hopes to make additions to the training program in order to develop organizing, communication and policy making skills in the women. She sees a need to develop self-confidence in Indonesian women. " I f even one man comes to a meeting", she says, "the women will not speak up."
Another important change she feels needs to take place is in the attitudes of the people towards change itself in both economics and health — although In fact she sees the basis of health problems as economic. For example, people work the land, but neither the land nor their produce belong to them. "We say in my country that Indonesia is a second U.S. because of the number of U.S. multinationals. They say they are working with the Indonesian government for the Indonesian people. But in reality it is only a few Indonesians who benefit. Thus, one can not avoid the political aspect because it is basically a political issue."