The Come Up of Women's Health

The women's health movement began with the concern for health in general.  In previous years the health of women (as well as men) was very poor.  100+ years ago in 1900 the top causes of death were perpetuated by viruses and bacterias.  These causes of death included 1) pneumonia and flu, 2) tuberculosis, and 3) Diarrhea, enteritis, and ulceration of the intestines to name a few.  Contrasted with the top three causes of death in todays society [1) heart disease, 2) cancer, 3) stroke] we are able to see a common trend in that the causes of death of the days of old were largely due to forces which were not to be controlled by the average persons actions but by changes in the state of sanitation and of a knowledge of what was harmful, including germs that cause the flu; whereas today the top three killers are behaviorally related - ranging from root causes such as eating habits, smoking, and lack of exercise.  
  
Women were doubly burdened in facing the often life-threatening charge of carrying and giving birth to children.  These births which took place in homes assisted by midwives and sans the miracle medicines of today were of course filled with pain, and stressful to say the least.   These leading causes of death were very likely to afflict either the mother or the child, or both; decreasing the pregnancy survival rate.   And we must keep in mind that the norm of today, with the mother and father and 2.5 children was not the norm of yesteryear, instead on average women produced families of 7 children in the year 1800, sadly only increasing your chances of not making it through the ordeal.  


With women being the carriers of the future generations it would be expected that they would receive more attention and recognition for their contributions and afforded the health care needed, right?  Wrong?  Women's health was often disregarded and more attention given to males who were treated as the "health model", upon which all things health and medicine related were based.  

But with the Women's Health movement which erupted in the 1960s, women finally began to achieve the rights that they should have always been entitled to.  During this time period contraceptives also gained great popularity, changing the lives of women all around.  With the use of these drugs women were finally given an alternative for their lives other than simply bearing children, and running a household, while waiting for the return of their husband from his days work.  With the inventions of Cesarean sections, drugs such as anesthesia and several different types of contraceptions the number of pregnancies per woman has decreased and the nature of giving birth have both been altered - to a no longer life threatening experience.  


With labor no longer life threatening, women's lives began to extend.  Women now live longer than men by several years in every race, for many speculated reasons, including essentially the better behaviors of women, and women's higher likelihood of visiting a doctor (where conditions would be diagnosed before becoming fatal).    


Women's health has been constantly changing through history and will continue to do so in the future.