Health is a gender issue
Mcfadden, P.
Southern Africa Political and Economic Monthly 7(3-4): 59-61
1994
PMID: 12318568 Document Number: 277363
In all societies, the definition of women's health is linked to their reproductive health. The Safe Motherhood Initiative, Mother and Child Health, and Primary Health Care are existing health programs that reinforce the assumption that women have no health needs outside of those determined by motherhood and the medical community. No health program in developing countries targets nonpregnant and nonlactating women. Many women do not perceive health holistically. Most women on the African continent are the least healthy people in its communities. The medical community ignores unmarried women who are not mothers, reflecting a pressing need to develop a new concept of health for women. Mothering equates successful womanhood in Africa. As a result, health workers tend not to attend to women at a health facility for needs other than pregnancy and medical care for a child, even though the workers tend to be women themselves. So African women only seek medical care for conditions linked to their birthing roles and practice self-care or tolerate the pain and discomfort. Their gynecological, mental, and emotional needs are marginalized. The Ford Foundation has even committed US $125 million to address the health needs of urban and rural women, especially poor women, throughout the reproductive cycle. The patriarchal African states reinforce the gender biases in the health and educational systems. Women tend to have a negative and self-marginalizing perception of their own health. A woman-centered concept of health uses the concept of wellness instead of health to affirm the right of women to a healthy existence as a human being. They have the right to pain-free, stress-free, and enjoyable life. Adoption of this holistic concept sets in motion very important processes: rejection of the stereotypical image of African women and construction of a new, positive image.