Stories on women’s health

Features
- Time to take prevention seriously
  
  As the incidence of breast cancer in the UK continues to rise, a national strategy to tackle its causes is long overdue, argues Laura Potts
- Eating badly for two
  
  The UK has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Europe – but many pregnant teenagers have a diet that is unhealthy for them and their babies.
  Helen Burchett and Annie Seeley explain why nutrition for pregnant teenagers should be a public health priority
- When the political became personal
  
  Health promoter Rachael Dixey was diagnosed with breast cancer – and learnt a lot about why the UK has such high mortality from the disease
- Global warning
  
  With the incidence of breast cancer increasing worldwide, international co-operation is essential, says Megan Stobbe
- A question of delivery
  
  Caesarean section rates have been rising for years – but nobody is sure why. Alison Macfarlane looks at the figures
- Hidden dangers on home ground
  
  Screening programmes have their place – but where is the research and action on the causes of breast cancer? Laura Potts reports on how women’s groups are initiating their own research
- US wrongs women’s rights
  
  Access to safe abortion and advice around the world has recently become harder, reports Tim Frasca
- Pharmacy provokes prayers
  
  The availability of emergency contraception at chemists has provoked a new backlash against women’s reproductive choices, reports Diane Lea
- Selling the parenthood dream
  
  As the world’s population passes six billion, parenthood remains a distant hope for many. Sandhya Srinivasan reports from India
- Breast cancer on the map
  
  While screeening for and treating breast cancer attract plenty of media coverage, little attention is paid to the environmental causes of the disease. Laura Potts says it’s time to redress the balance
- When systems don’t deliver
  
  Infertility causes enormous distress. So does finding that the NHS can’t—or won’t—help, because you live in the wrong place. Rose and Jonathan Jardine tell their story
- When home is where the hurt is
  
  Domestic violence is a major threat to the health of women and children — and it’s time for a national strategy to address it, argues Annie Moelwyn-Hughes
- Health for women, and for all
  
  There’s never been a better time to think seriously about a new agenda for women’s health, says Wendy Savage
- Delivering a disturbing judgement
  
  Two recent court cases have raised fundamental questions about the rights of women in labour, reports Julie Stone
- Listen without prejudice
  
  Women with chronic illnesses see doctors more often than most of us — which makes them ideal observers of medical attitudes to women, says Veronica Marris
- From private shame to public campaign
  
  The medical profession and the pharmaceutical industry have between them created a ‘breast cancer industry’ which neglects the needs of women themselves, argue Laura Potts and Mary Twomey
- Harder labour for midwives
  
  Anthea Symonds analyses the events which have lead up to recent calls for strike action by midwives
- A check-up for women’s health
  
  The fourth World Conference on Women is due to be held in September. But many important issues will never reach the agenda, says Mandy Garner
- A doctor writes
  
  Jane Harvey gives the view from the family planning clinic
- Tracey’s tale
  
  Sex education should start young and be relevant, says Tracey Pritchard. She knows, because she’s been there
- I am a one in twelve
  
  One in twelve women in the UK will develop breast cancer, and almost everyone’s lives will be touched by it at some time. Yet for many cancer, and especially breast cancer, remains a source of fear and shame.
  Here Joyce Wadler talks to Mandy Garner about her own experience of cancer, and why she wrote a book about it
- Whose pregnancy is it anyway?
  
  Can an unborn baby take its mother to court? Recent cases suggest that the right of a pregnant woman to refuse treatment is being called into question, says Julie Stone
- Dying for effective contraception
  
  Maternal mortality rates in Russia are comparable to those in Britain half a century ago. One in five of these deaths is due to abortion. Denise Kendrick reports
- 25 years on: one woman’s story
  
  In the year that the 1967 Abortion Act marks its twenty-fifth anniversary, a young Muslim woman turns to the NHS for an abortion. Here, she tells her story to Philippa Cooper
- Belfast’s battle over Brook
  
  In Ulster the arrival of contraception advice for young people has met with a storm of protest. Lindsay McClintock reports
- Whose bodies? Whose choice?
  
  Our accepted ideas about parenthood have been overturned by the new reproductive technologies. Yet the ethical debate of recent years has been narrowly technical, and ignored the central position of women, says Patricia Spallone
- Midwives and medicine: what will the future deliver?
  
  A new, research-based and woman-centred midwifery is emerging from the shadow of medical dominance. But what vision do midwives themselves hold of the future? Jane Muzira reports
- Just as important as anyone else
  
  An innovative health project aimed at — and run by — young women has opened in Manchester. Sian Long explains what it’s all about
- Let the woman decide
  
  Abortion on request is still the goal, says Jane Roe
- Small is beautiful
  
  Closing small maternity units is not what women want, says Christine Gowdridge
- Absorbing issues…
  
  Despite recent concerns over tampon safety, it’s still only a minority of women who are aware of the dangers, warns Gill de Lacy Costello
- Whose baby is it anyway?
  
  At a time when maternity care is being criticised increasingly for absence of choice and lack of involvement in decision-making, a number of practices in Sheffield are encouraging women to take greater control over their pregnancies. Fiona Brooks explains
- Can’t they go and see their GP?
  
  Clinics can provide more than ‘clinical’ care, says Connie Smith
- The end of an era?
  
  The Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital in London, the last NHS hospital guaranteeing women treatment in an all-women environment, has now introduced male consultants. But all is not yet lost…
- Getting back to normal?
  
  Demoralised by the bureaucratic approach to the county’s child abuse controversy, many people in Cleveland are yearning to ‘get back to normal’. But the chance to develop a new approach to male violence could be lost, says Janis Bright
Interview
- Don’t you know that it’s different for girls?
  
  Who takes the main responsibility for sex education at home? Judith Emanuel talked with six mothers about pregnancy, partners and ‘proper words’
Columns
- Eugenic sterilisation: Europe’s shame
  
  Eugenic ideas were promoted across much of Europe during the 1920s and 1930s, with forcible sterilisation of the ‘unfit’ a constant demand of the eugenicists. Charles Webster reports on a troubled period in our history
- But can the market deliver?
  
  Eric the Heretic bears down on the market niche of ‘independent midwifery’
- In the club again?
  
  Eric the Heretic isn’t one to keep his views on over-age mothers to himself
News
Reviews
- Violence Against Women in Asian Societies
  Lenore Manderson, Linda Rae Bennett (eds.)
  Routledge, 2003. £16.99
- The production of unreality
  
  Media and Health
  Clive Seale
  Sage Publications, 2003. £18.99
- A gender for change
  
  This Side of Doctoring: reflections from women in medicine
  Eliza Lo Chin (editor)
  Sage Publications, 2002. £23.00
- Sexist healing?
  
  Well Women: the gendered nature of health care provision
  Anne Morris and Susan Nott (eds)
  Ashgate Publishing, 2002. £47.50
- Self and self-image
  
  THE ANOREXIC EXPERIENCE
  Marilyn Lawrence
  Women’s Press, 1995, £8.99
- Down but not out
  
  WOMEN’S PERSPECTIVES ON DRUGS AND ALCOHOL: The vicious circle
  Pamela Raine
  Ashgate Publishing Group, 2001, £37.50
- Let’s talk about sex
  
  TACKLING TEENAGE PREGNANCY: Sex, culture and needs
  Ruth Chambers, Gill Wakeley and Steph Chambers
  Radcliffe Medical Press, 2001, £17.95
- Young, pregnant, doing OK
  
  TOUGH CHOICES: Young women talk about pregnancy
  Alison Hadley (editor)
  The Women’s Press, 1999, £4.99
- A few home truths
  
  DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND HEALTH: the response of the medical profession
  Emma Williamson
  The Policy Press, 2000
- A guide to the therapies
  
  BODYWORK THERAPIES FOR WOMEN
  Delcia McNeil
  The Women’s Press, 2000, £9.99
- Eating and assertiveness
  
  CONQUERING ANOREXIA: the route to recovery
  Clare Lindsay
  Summersdale, 2000, £9.99
- A gender for health
  
  WOMEN AND HEALTH SERVICES
  Lesley Doyal (ed)
  Open University Press, 1998
- A guide for survivors
  
  SEXUAL VIOLENCE: the reality for women
  The London Rape Crisis Centre
  The Women’s Press, 1999, £8.99
- Stuff your attitudes
  
  BIGGER THAN THE SKY: disabled women on parenting
  Michele Wates and Rowen Jade (eds)
  The Women’s Press, 1999, £8.99
- Why are we the ME generation
  
  KNOWING ME: women speak about myalgic encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome
  Caeia March (ed)
  The Women’s Press, 1998, £8.99
- Get basics right first
  
  INFERTILITY: a sympathetic approach to understanding the causes and options for treatment
  Robert Winston
  Vermilion, 1996, £8.99
- Well-being and being women
  
  WOMEN’S EXPERIENCE OF FEMINIST THERAPY AND COUNSELLING
  Eileen McLeod
  Open University Press, 1994
- Stories worth hearing
  
  LIVES WORTH LIVING: women’s experience of chronic illness
  Veronica Marris
  Pandora Press, 1996
- From sink to drink
  
  WOMEN AND ALCOHOL: a private pleasure or a public problem?
  Elizabeth Ettorre
  The Women’s Press, 1997, £8.99
- Wider discussion needed
  
  THE EMOTIONAL SIDE OF INFERTILITY
  Chrissie Jones
  Next Step Publishing, 1995, £4.99
- Stop feeling sorry
  
  Encounters with Strangers: Feminism and Disability
  Jenny Morris (ed)
  The Women’s Press, 1996, £8.99
- Do women ‘do death better’?
  
  Lifting the taboo: women, death and dying
  Sally Cline
  Little, Brown & Co, 1995, £18.99
- Hierarchies of abuse
  
  The Abuse of Women within Childcare Work
  Kieran O’Hagan and Karola Dillenburger
  Open University Press, 1995
- ...and the British version
  
  WOMEN AND THE HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY
  Peggy Foster
  Open University Press, 1995
- All-American feminism...
  
  Women’s Health - Missing from US Medicine
  Sue V Rosser
  Indiana University Press, 1994
- Woman-centred reports
  
  Reproductive healthmatters
  ed Marge Berer
  Published twice yearly. Details: 0171-242 8686
- Global perspectives on reproduction
  
  PRIVATE DECISIONS, PUBLIC DEBATE: WOMEN, REPRODUCTION AND POPULATION
  Panos Publications, 1994
- Living with dying
  
  CANCER IN TWO VOICES
  Sandra Butler and Barbara Rosenblum
  The Women’s Press, 1994, £7.99
- Sick and tired no longer
  
  HEALTHY AND WISE: THE ESSENTIAL HEALTH HANDBOOK FOR BLACK WOMEN
  Melba Wilson (ed)
  Virago, 1994, £6.99
- Being put to the tests
  
  The antenatal testing handbook - the complete guide to testing in pregnancy
  Vivienne Parry
  Pan, 1993
- Reclaim the knife
  
  ESSAYS ON WOMEN, MEDICINE AND HEALTH
  Ann Oakley
  Edinburgh University Press, 1993, £14.95
- Calling women to heal
  
  WOMEN HEALERS THROUGH HISTORY
  Elisabeth Brooke
  Women’s Press, 1993, £7.99
- An unbearable lightness
  
  WOMANSIZE: THE TYRANNY OF SLENDERNESS
  Kim Chernin
  The Women’s Press, 1993, £7.99
- Optimism and pride
  
  POSITIVELY WOMEN: LIVING WITH AIDS
  Sue O’Sullivan & Kate Thomson (eds)
  Sheba Feminist Press, 1992, £9.99
  
  WORKING WITH WOMEN AND AIDS: MEDICAL, SOCIAL & COUNSELLING ISSUES
  Judy Bury, Val Morrison & Sheena McLachlan (eds) Routledge, 1992
- Carry on delivering
  
  BIRTH WITHOUT DOCTORS: CONVERSATIONS WITH TRADITIONAL MIDWIVES
  Jacqueline Vincent-Priya
  Earthscan Publications, 1991, £7.95
- No more invisible men
  
  DOING FEMINIST RESEARCH
  ed Helen Roberts
  Routledge, 1990
- The birth of free will
  
  WHO’S HAVING YOUR BABY? A HEALTH RIGHTS HANDBOOK FOR MATERNITY CARE
  Beverly Lawrence Beech
  Bedford Square Press (2nd Edition), 1991
- Against despair
  
  INFERTILITY SERVICES: A DESPERATE CASE
  Greater London Association Of Community Health Councils, London
  Naomi Pfeffer and Alison Quick.
- Labour in the capital
  
  POWER, POLITICS AND PREGNANCY
  Health Rights, £3.95.
  Belinda Pratten
- Maternity and women at work
  
  WOMEN, WORK AND MATERNITY: THE INSIDE STORY
  O’Grady F and Wakefield H
  Maternity Alliance, £2.50
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