Honoring 30 Activists for Our 30th Anniversary

NWHN is proud to present to you 30 activists whom we are honoring for their essential work on women’s health. Individually, these 29 women and one man have created and inspired work to improve women’s health over the last 30-plus years. Their work transformed our experience of women’s health, and continues to do so today. The activists range in age from over 75 years to those in their early 20s. They include individuals who worked alone -- before the women’s health movement came into being -- as well as those who formed groups, collectives, and partnerships -- including some of the earliest organizations which, along with the Network, were the linchpins of the movement.

Many activists honored in this project are founders –- of organizations, projects, support groups, and advocacy campaigns. Some are already well-known and have received other honors for their work; others are unfamiliar to those outside their colleagues. A few were nominated for this honor by their daughters or partners. The activists come from all parts of the country and use many different strategies to make change. They are gay, straight, able-bodied, living with disabilities, women of color, and Caucasian women. The honorees work in rural settings and big cities. They include academics, health professionals, authors, and lawyers, as well as those with no special training who cared about a cause and decided to make a difference.

Together, they reflect values the Network holds dear – they trust women’s descriptions of their own experience; they believe that evidence should underpin services and information; they consider systems of power and oppression as they work; they resist the unnecessary medicalization of women’s health; and they believe that all women deserve access to excellent health care.

Honorees were selected from nominations submitted by the public. NWHN’s current and former Board members served on the selection committee and were ably assisted by Joi Washington, Amber Fair, Katherine Beagle, Jiayan Chen, Katherine Cox, Svetlana Lantsman, and Amrita Singh.

In choosing the activists who best represented the variety of people and issues addressed by the women’s health movement, we had to leave out many great honorees, including some who have been part of NWHN itself. In honoring individuals and organizations that are not part of the NWHN family, we intend to honor the ‘network’ part of our name. We are using our own 30th anniversary to strengthen the connections among activists and others concerned about improving women’s health.

In celebration of NWHN’s 30 years, we also want to honor and thank NWHN’s founders: Belita Cowan, Barbara Seaman, Alice Wolfson, Phyllis Chesler, and the late Mary Howell, without whom this work would not have taken place. We are walking on the path they laid out. In addition, we also recognize NWHN Board Chairs who served and led the organization from 1975-2005: Anne Kasper, Ann Sablosky, Belita Cowan, Doris Haire, JoAnne Fischer, Sybil Shainwald, Janet Stallmeyer, Nancy Worcester, Olivia Cousins, Jane Sprague Zones, Adriane Fugh-Berman, Cynthia Chung Mi Choi, Lourdes Rivera, and Sonja Herbert. We also thank NWHN’s Executive Directors: Belita Cowan, Carol Sheffer-Hartman, Kathleen Glynn, Victoria Leonard, Beverly Baker, and Cynthia Pearson. The late Helen Rodriguez-Trias, for whom our Leadership Development program is named, also has a special place in the history of NWHN. During the past 30 years, 91 women have served on NWHN’s Board of Directors, over 70 people have worked as staff members, and 285 young activists have interned at the Network.

We hope that you enjoy reading about our wonderful honorees and that their work, and the leadership of those who have been involved in the NWHN over the past 30 years, will inspire and motivate you in your own efforts!

Our Bodies, Ourselves (formerly known as the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective)

Our Bodies, Ourselves (OBOS) is known throughout the world as a ground-breaking book that brings women’s knowledge to other women in a straightforward and supportive way and advances a feminist analysis of women’s health issues. OBOS began in 1970 as a small newsprint pamphlet which was so popular it was expanded into a full-fledged book in 1973. This became a best-seller; 35 years later, the book is known world-wide, has been translated or adapted into 18 languages, and was recently published in its 8th edition. OBOS is seen by many as an icon – women who have them still treasure the earliest pamphlet version of the material. And OBOS is more than a book. It was written by a group of 15 women functioning as a collective; this collective has continued its work for 35 years, during which time over 100 women have been part of the process as staff and board members. Many individual collective members were nominated so, to all of the women involved with OBOS over the last 35 years, thank you for making the world a different, and better, place. See: www.ourbodiesourselves.org.

Feminist Women’s Health Centers (FWHCs) and Self-Help Clinic

Self-Help Clinic was the brainchild of Carol Downer and Lorraine Rothman. While helping women get safe abortions pre-Roe, Carol and Lorraine realized that women who had their own speculums and were familiar with their cervix and vagina could literally take their health into their own hands. Advanced self-help, dubbed ‘menstrual extraction’, could even enable groups of women to help each other avoid the need for unsafe and poorly performed abortions. Carol and Lorraine traveled through the U.S., sharing self-help techniques and inspiring women to set up their own groups. When abortion was legalized, the groups sprang into action and opened women-controlled clinics -- the very first one opened in Los Angeles just 53 days after the Roe v. Wade decision. Clinics opened around the country and flourished throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. The FWHCs wrote their own books about women’s health, including A New View of a Woman’s Body, and shared the self-help spirit and hundreds of thousands of plastic vaginal speculums with women all over the country. Other groups, such as the National Black Women’s Health Project, absorbed the self-help spirit and used it as an underpinning of their own work. Conservative times, anti-abortion violence, and the rise of HMOs took their toll of feminist women’s clinics, but the spirit and the work live on at the FWHCs in Northern California, Atlanta, and Washington State. See: www.womenshealthspecialists.org.

DES Action USA

DES Action was one of the first issue-specific groups that arose from the women’s health movement. Founded in 1977 by the mother-daughter team of Pat and Nora Cody, DES Action initially responded to a crisis caused by the finding that DES (which had been given to millions of pregnant women between 1938--1971 to prevent miscarriage) caused cancer and serious reproductive tract abnormalities in these women’s daughters. DES Action created education materials and quickly became active on the policy level, calling for a halt of DES’ other uses, including as a morning-after pill or to fatten animals sold for food. DES Action’s work broadened as the full effects of DES emerged and it became clear that mothers, sons, daughters, and even grandchildren are harmed by the drug. DES Action’s activists have successfully lobbied Congress to pass legislation on research and continued educational efforts. DES Action continues to be a strong voice challenging the pharmaceutical industry’s heavy focus on, and marketing of, prevention through pills. They’re a voice for the millions of women who trusted doctors who ignored the evidence that DES was never effective for pregnant women and that no one benefited from its use, except the drug companies that ignored their own studies. See: www.desaction.org.

Byllye Y. Avery

For her daughter’s 11th birthday Byllye Avery used icing to emblazon her birthday cake with the message: ‘Happy Birthday, Happy Menstruation!’ This bold and poignant gesture characterizes Byllye’s commitment to health activism and her passion for empowering women. In 1974, only a year after the Roe v. Wade decision, Byllye co-founded the Gainesville Women’s Health Center, a first-trimester abortion provider. Byllye also established an alternative birthing center, called Birthplace, where women could deliver with the aid of certified midwives. In 1981, Byllye persuaded her fellow NWHN board members to pay more attention to Black women’s health issues, and she founded the National Black Women’s Health Project, now known as the Black Women’s Health Imperative. The Imperative is the only national organization specifically dedicated to promoting the physical, mental, and emotional health of Black women. The Imperative promotes leadership in Black women’s health issues by organizing women in their communities. Byllye has won numerous awards for her work in health activism (including the 1989 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship for Social Contribution) and there is no indication that she is slowing down. She continues her public work, founding the Avery Institute for Social Change in 2002. The Institute addresses health concerns of people of color and is working to establish affordable health care for all people. For more information, contact the NWHN office.

Mary Lou Ballweg

For Mary Lou Ballweg, society’s constant dismissal of the pain and distress of endometriosis was unacceptable. In 1980, Mary Lou co-founded The Endometriosis Association, which began as a support group for women suffering from this common gynecological condition. Since then, the Association has grown into a worldwide organization with support groups and chapters in 66 countries, reaching women from all walks of life. The Endometriosis Association’s mission is to teach doctors not to ignore the disease’s painful symptoms which for years have been dismissed by many clinicians as either psychological or exaggerated. Mary Lou and the Association have gone beyond calling for better education and more research and have sponsored research themselves. This research has uncovered a link between exposure to toxic chemicals and an increased risk of developing the disease. Mary Lou has written several books on endometriosis including The Endometriosis Sourcebook. See: www.endometriosisassn.org.

Barbara Brenner

Barbara Brenner refuses to be satisfied with the sentimentality and acquiescence of the breast cancer community’s ‘pink ribbon’ campaign and isn’t afraid to point out the need to go beyond ribbons to truly make a difference in breast cancer. Barbara is not only a critic, but also an activist and breast cancer survivor who is dedicated to moving research in a new direction. Barbara’s life changed when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1993. She left her position as a partner in a San Francisco law firm and began using her skills for breast cancer activism. Today, Barbara serves as the Executive Director of Breast Cancer Action (BCA), a grassroots organization for breast cancer survivors and supporters. With Barbara’s leadership, BCA has challenged the conventional view that mammograms are the first and best method of preventing the devastating effects of breast cancer. Instead, BCA advocates for true prevention by understanding and eliminating breast cancer’s causes. Known for lively campaigns like ‘Think Before You Pink’ and ‘Follow the Money’, BCA and Barbara are proud to call themselves the Bad Girls of Breast Cancer. See: www.bcaction.org.

Cynthia Chandler and Cassandra Shaylor

Working with some of the most vulnerable and desperate women, attorneys Cynthia Chandler and Cassandra Shaylor challenge conventional assumptions about prison populations. As the co-founders of Justice Now, Cynthia and Cassandra work to empower incarcerated women and bring about social and political change within the U.S. prison system. The program is specifically concerned with the world’s two largest women’s prisons, both located in Chowchilla, California. Since its founding in 2000, Justice Now has advocated for female prisoners, provided legal advice and information for patients and families, and organized a community-based campaign against inhumane treatment of incarcerated women (such as lack of adequate health care). Cynthia and Cassandra help prisoners and their families take advantage of the state’s Compassionate Release process, which allows dying prisoners to return home to die with dignity. Justice Now educates, organizes, and identifies leaders as part of its work to end stigmatization of female prisoners. For example, as part of its work, a California legislative hearing on prisoners recently allowed incarcerated women to testify before legislators from inside the jail for the first time ever. Cynthia and Cassandra also work to prepare the next generation of activists by training law students, lawyers, and community organizers. See: www.jnow.org.

Sophya Chum

Sophya Chum has been a women’s health activist since 1999, when she joined Asian Pacific Islanders for Reproductive Health at the age of 15 as a volunteer for the group’s HOPE (Health, Opportunity, Problem Solving, Empowerment) Project. Soon, HOPE Project members realized that they wanted to specifically address issues of concern to their community of young, Cambodian women, and formed a youth advocacy group called Khmer Girls in Action (KGA). Sophya was involved in the initial phases of developing KGA and participated in its Young Women’s Justice Program, which focused on political awareness training, political skill-building, cultural programming, and self-expression. First an intern, Sophya is now a KGA staff member and co-facilitator of the Young Women’s Justice Program. Working directly with working class, Southeast Asian high school girls in Long Beach, California, Sophya helps KGA’s members foster positive self-images, feminist principles, health, well-being, and sisterhood. For more information, contact KGA at 562.986.9415.

Phillip Corfman

When the women’s health movement first began, Dr. Phillip Corfman was in a position of power, both literally and figuratively. He was a White, male ObGyn in charge of contraceptive research at the National Institutes of Health. When the Senate held hearings about the Pill in 1970, Phil was called to testify. Activists disrupted the hearings, pointing out that no women had been invited to testify and questioning why women’s concerns about the Pill’s effects were not being considered. Phil, who was sitting at the witness table when the disruption took place, told the Senators that the women were asking important questions. From then on, Phil was a behind-the-scenes supporter of the women’s health movement’s attempts to influence federal policy. He shared information, gave advice when asked, and ensured that activists had a place at the table -- or at least time at the mike. In 1980, he encouraged his late wife’s friends to create NWHN’s Eunice Luccock Corfman Memorial Internship for graduate students. Phil went on to work on contraceptive development and approval at the World Health Organization and the Food and Drug Administration, where he shepherded mifepristone through a complex and politically charged approval process. Phil retired from the FDA in 1998 and continues his work for reproductive health as an independent consultant. For more information, contact the NWHN office.

Debra Daniels

In Utah, the presence of the patriarchal culture is strongly felt, and violence against women is often both silenced and viewed as a ‘personal’ problem. While this may seem an insurmountable obstacle for many, it simply motivates the work of activist Debra Daniels. As the current director of the University of Utah’s Women’s Resource Center, Debra’s commitment to activism can be traced throughout her life. Her career began as a social worker in Salt Lake City. She served as the Assistant Director of the YWCA of Salt Lake City, which runs the largest battered women’s shelter in the state. Debra later became the Director of Client Services at the Rape Recovery Center, before creating her own organization, Umoja, which is Swahili for ‘unity’. Umoja provides risk reduction and diversity classes to the community in an effort to reduce violence in our culture. Debra has been a longstanding voice for women who have survived assault, and has always focused on issues of racial, economic, and sexual diversity as she speaks out about wide-ranging social problems. See: www.sa.utah.edu/women/staff/director.

Dazon Dixon Diallo

Before Dazon Dixon Diallo was known as an outspoken educator and advocate for women affected by HIV/AIDS, she began her career at the Atlanta Feminist Women’s Health Center. During her time there, Dazon witnessed the harmful effects of poverty and a lack of education on women’s sexual health. Unable to idly sit by, Dazon collaborated with other women and founded SisterLove, Inc. in 1989. The organization’s goal is to develop and promote a woman-centered, pleasure-based approach to HIV/AIDS prevention, self-help, and safer-sex efforts. Additionally, SisterLove provides much needed housing, education, support, and advocacy services to the Metropolitan Atlanta area through its Healthy Love Program, the HIV/AIDS Prevention Project, and Housing and Support Services. Dazon has also connected with women in South Africa to form cross-continental alliances to build women’s visibility and power in the fight against AIDS. She is fulfilling her mission to eradicate the impact of HIV/AIDS and other reproductive health challenges upon women and their families through education, prevention, support, and human rights advocacy in the U.S. and around the world. See: www.sisterlove.org.

Betty Dodson

Betty Dodson has empowered more women to have orgasms and understand their body’s capacity for pleasure than any other person on the planet (at least, as far as we know!) Betty has tirelessly dedicated her life to assisting people to see sexuality as a positive, life-enhancing part of our lives. Betty is credited with “liberating masturbation” for women via an article in Ms. Magazine and a pamphlet, entitled Liberating Masturbation, promoting masturbation as a way of improving women’s sexual experiences. The pamphlet became so popular it made the transition to a mainstream publisher in the 1970s, and remains in print to this day entitled Sex For One. Always willing to push the movement further, Betty took the self-help clinic model and put it to work for sexuality, though her bodysex groups. Betty is now 75 years old and recently wrote Orgasms for Two, a guide for women in sexual relationships with men. Betty challenged taboos 30 years ago when she openly supported masturbation; she continues to show us new pathways as an older woman talking about sex and sexuality in a frank, positive, and open way. See: www.Bettydodson.com.

Adriane Fugh-Berman

Dr. Adriane Fugh-Berman began her women’s health activism as a spy. Sent by a local abortion rights group to an anti-abortion Right to Life meeting, Adriane’s experience was so fascinating that her friends encouraged her to write about it. Thus began a career writing about women’s health that has spanned over 20 years. Adriane’s lively and entertaining columns challenge commonly held beliefs and have appeared in feminist newspapers, alternative medicine journals, and the NWHN’s own newsletter. Adriane is well known to NWHN members for her many newsletter articles and key chapters in The Truth About HRT, which she co-authored. Adriane’s writing also had a significant impact on medical education after a national weekly published her exposé of sexism in medical schools. Adriane’s publications and talks now often focus on complementary and alternative medicine. She highlights what works and exposes the uncritical acceptance of untested (and possibly dangerous) products. Adriane is the author of Alternative Medicine: What Works, and The Five-Minute Herbs and Dietary Supplement Clinical Consult. See: www.fugh-berman.com.

Kathryn Hall

Nearly 20 years ago, Kathryn Hall was an employee of the California Department of Health Services who was troubled by the higher than normal rate of African American infant mortality in Sacramento County. Turning her anxiety into action, Kathryn and nine other women each adopted a high-risk pregnant woman as her ‘sister.’ The sisters aided the expectant mothers throughout their pregnancy. The venture was so successful that Kathryn became the founding director of The Birthing Project, a program that matches women mentors with those experiencing high-risk pregnancies to offer support. These women are companions throughout the pregnancy; some even become birth partners. Kathryn recognizes the importance of engaging fathers and youth; as a result, she established programs such as ‘The Barber Shop’, which provides employment, parenting education and social support for fathers; and ‘Saturday Morning Beauty Salon’, which teaches teens risk-reduction strategies. Kathryn also helps expand the number of physicians who are dedicated to providing care in underserved areas through her work with Cuba’s Latin American Medical School. See: www.birthingproject.com.

Silvia Henriquez

At only 29 years of age, Silvia Henriquez has already accomplished an enormous amount. Despite the rapid increase in the U.S. Latino population, many societal inequalities affect the lives of Latino immigrants. The daughter of Salvadoran immigrants, Silvia is an outspoken leader in the Latina reproductive rights movement and currently serves as the Executive Director of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health (NLIRH). NLIRH promotes policy and advocacy initiatives to improve the health of Latinas. Silvia has also worked as the outreach director of the National Abortion Federation, developing strategies to increase reproductive health access for women of color in the U.S., and as the coordinator of the Feminist Majority Foundation’s national campus organizing program. Women’s economic equality is part of Silvia’s approach to improving women’s health and she has worked both in the U.S. and El Salvador on labor issues. She is also the co-author of Our Health, Our Rights: Reproductive Justice for Latinas in California. See: www.latinainstitute.org.

Debbie Lee

Debbie Lee is deeply committed to advocating on behalf of battered women and improving the health care system’s response to domestic and intimate partner violence. Although she does not describe herself as a founder of this aspect of the women’s health movement, Debbie has done an enormous amount to prevent violence and aid battered women. An activist for domestic violence prevention for over 20 years, Debbie is currently the Managing Director of the Family Violence Prevention Fund, which works to prevent violence within the home and in the community, to help those whose lives are devastated by violence, and to realize every individual’s right to live free of violence. In her work, Debbie emphasizes the ties between violence against women and promotion of women’s health. The Fund has been effective at including women from all backgrounds (including immigrant women) in its outreach and education work, and has led the way with national education campaigns that have changed attitudes about this important issue. In addition to her work at the Fund, Debbie also co-founded the San Francisco Asian Women’s Shelter, and directs the National Health Initiative on Domestic Violence. See: www.endabuse.org.

Destiny Lopez

Devoted to ensuring that young women of color have access to the full range of reproductive rights, Destiny Lopez directs NARAL Pro-Choice New York’s Emergency Contraception (EC) Access Campaign, its Rural Provider Project, and its Latino Reproductive Rights Project -- a remarkable range of responsibilities. Ten years ago, as a college freshman, Destiny conducted her first grassroots organizing campaign when her college’s pro-choice organization successfully lobbied the school administration to allow condom availability on campus. Since then, she co-founded Girls CAN, which empowers young women living in Brooklyn to deliver peer-education workshops and plan community service events. As the Director for the Emergency Contraception Access Campaign, Destiny has built a large and active state-wide coalition committed to educating New Yorkers about the safety, effectiveness, and availability of EC. Destiny has also worked to reduced barriers to the timely availability of EC through promoting policies that enable qualified pharmacists and registered nurses to dispense EC. Destiny has worked with the Coalition and state officials to make New York a national leader in funding EC outreach and education. Through the Latino Reproductive Rights Project, Destiny partners with the Hispanic Federation on a long-term campaign to educate Latinos about, and shape perspectives on, reproductive health and choice. See: www.prochoiceny.org.

Pat Maginnis

In 1960, when the word ‘abortion’ was too taboo to mention in public, Pat Maginnis, then a young college student, kick-started the abortion rights movement in California by distributing petitions, surveys, and leaflets on street corners and in classrooms. Four years later, Pat enlisted Rowena Gurner and Lana Phelan to form a group which became known as the ‘Army of Three’. In an era when police routinely arrested women who lay bleeding from botched abortions, and when even sending birth control information through the mail was illegal, the ‘Army of Three’ conducted a round-the-clock campaign and endured threats, exhaustion, and multiple arrests to win several vital court challenges. Mindful of women’s urgent reproductive health needs, the Army members traveled widely to meet women in private homes and union halls across the county, where they offered support, contraceptive information, and referrals to safe abortion providers in Mexico. The movement started by the ‘Army of Three’ caught fire and grew until Roe v. Wade created a new world for American women in 1973. The Army itself became known as ARAL, the Association to Repeal Abortion Laws, which was a precursor of today’s NARAL. Pat is a tireless, venerable pioneer who continues to work for women’s rights, even suffering physical abuse at age 70 while defending women’s health clinics. For more information, contact the NWHN office.

Renetia Martin

Renetia Martin’s work as the founder and leader of the California Women’s Health Collaborative exemplifies important aspects of the current women’s health movement. The Collaborative provides a forum for grassroots women’s health leaders -- predominantly women of color and low-income women -- to promote their vision of women’s health. The Collaborative places women’s health at the top of the health policy agenda, while ensuring that class and race are also addressed. Sixty women’s health leaders gather twice a year to support, share with, and learn from each other. Together, they have spawned many successful community-based programs, advocacy campaigns, and innovative research efforts dedicated to improving the health of women, and conveying the health needs of low-income communities and communities of color to a wider audience. Renetia founded the Collaborative over 10 years ago when she was a Program Officer at the James Irvine Foundation. She brings many years of experience as an activist for civil rights and women’s rights to her work on women’s health. Renetia also communicates her views directly to the state government as a member of the Women’s Health Council, an advisory body of the state Department of Health Services. See: www.whconline.org.

Marlene McCarthy

Thirteen years ago, breast cancer survivor Marlene McCarthy co-founded the Rhode Island Breast Cancer Coalition, still the only breast cancer resource center in the state. The group represents women whose voices had previously been ignored in discussions about legislation, health care policy, and education initiatives. Marlene has done a tremendous amount for women not only in Rhode Island, but also throughout the U.S. She is an active member of the National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC), whose mission is to eradicate breast cancer through action and advocacy. Marlene has been with the organization since its inception and serves on the NBCC Board of Directors and Executive Committee. She has also testified before the U.S. Congress and participated as a consumer advocate representative at national and international breast cancer meetings. Every Spring, Marlene leads a contingent of women from Rhode Island to Washington D.C. to participate in NBCC’s lobby day, bringing the voices of those affected by breast cancer directly to national decisionmakers. Because of her commitment to breast cancer advocacy, Marlene received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Rhode Island. See: www.ricancercouncil.org/about/members/McCarthy.php.

Janine O’Leary Cobb

In 1984, Janine O’Leary Cobb became a friend to women worldwide when she began publishing the newsletter A Friend Indeed. Janine started the newsletter while working as a professor at Vanier College in Montreal, Canada. After noticing a lack of adequate information on menopause in existing literature, and menopause’s characterization as a disease by some in the medical community, Janine decided to bring a more balanced, women-centered approach to the subject. The newsletter served as a way for Janine to address her own menopause experience and became a valuable source for other women about the natural process of menopause. The newsletter became a huge success and Janine was asked to write a book about the subject. Understanding Menopause has sold over 45,000 copies in Canada and was recently updated in 2001. Janine edited and published A Friend Indeed until 1998; the newsletter is now produced by a new publisher, Women’s Health Initiative, Inc. Janine is currently active with Breast Cancer Action Montreal and is a contributor for the latest edition of Our Bodies, Ourselves. See: www.bcam.qc.ca/index1.html.

Cheryl Osimo

At the age of 40, Cheryl Osimo was diagnosed with breast cancer. Having no family history and no known risk factors associated with the disease, Cheryl wanted to discover what could have affected her health. A resident of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Cheryl was surprised to learn that Cape Cod towns have some of the highest breast cancer rates in the state. This discovery led her to become a founding Board member of the Silent Spring Institute, a non-profit research organization dedicated to studying links between the environment and women’s health, especially around preventable causes of breast cancer. Today, Cheryl is the Cape Coordinator organizing the Institute’s education and outreach efforts. In addition, she serves as the Educational Outreach Coordinator and a Board member of the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition. Cheryl is also active in many other community-based health organizations, including the Breast Cancer Advisory Committee for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, and the Cape Cod Hospital Multidisciplinary Quality Improvement Breast Cancer Team. She is also a founding member of Concerned Parents for Safe Food. See: www.silentspring.org.

Bindiya Patel

India, South Africa, England, United States; Bindiya Patel has traveled around the world in her efforts to make a positive impact on the health of women and children. After earning her Master’s degree from Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Bindiya revived the school’s Gender and Development Policy Network. She is currently the North American coordinator for the Global Campaign for Microbicides. Microbicides offer new possibilities for woman-controlled pregnancy and STD prevention methods through innovations such as vaginal creams and gels that women can apply before sexual intercourse. Microbicides, therefore, hold the promise of significantly affecting women’s lives. The Campaign’s mission is to build support among policy makers, opinion leaders, and the general public for increased investment in microbicides and other user-controlled prevention methods. Through her work at the Global Campaign, Bindiya supports American and Canadian advocates’ promotion of these new women-controlled prevention methods, and raises public awareness of the need for these life-saving products. Prior to working at the Campaign, Bindiya helped manage an outreach program at Philani Nutrition Center, a women’s and children’s health clinic in Khayelitsha, South Africa. See: www.global-campaign.org.

Cheri Pies

Cheri Pies, a leader in women’s health for nearly 30 years, has never shied away from addressing controversial topics. She has written about issues related to lesbian parenting, bioethics, and reproductive health. Cheri developed culturally sensitive and ethical guidelines for AIDS/HIV counseling during the early years of the AIDS epidemic. She has also developed ethical guidelines for using incentives in reproductive health programs; created home visiting programs for low-income families; and studied racial inequities in access to emergency contraception, and controversial issues related to adolescent Norplant use. Cheri makes it a priority to apply her vision of social justice to her work in women’s health. She currently directs the Family, Maternal, and Child Health programs of Contra Costa County, California. Under her leadership, the county health department has developed unique ways to reach out to the community, including a movie screening addressing school violence and bullying, and photography exhibits on unequal access to health care and homelessness. See: www.cchealth.org/groups/fmch.

Carol Sakala

With her unwavering dedication to promoting evidence-based research and information about pregnancy and childbirth, Carol Sakala has been an invaluable asset to the field of maternity care. As the Director of Programs at the Maternity Center Association, Carol has greatly contributed to the goal of providing women with the safest and most effective maternity care. She is a firm advocate of reducing the number of unnecessary Caesarean sections. Her comprehensive essays and research on this topic have been critical to the cause, and she has identified numerous factors related to the increasing numbers of C-sections currently being performed. She is also an activist for abolishing negative trends in maternity service that have compromised women’s health. Her advocacy work has been effective because Carol relies on more than just a strong conviction -- she supports every claim with rational and scientific evidence. Carol is also involved with the Cochrane Collaboration, an organization dedicated to reviewing the safety and effectiveness of a broad range of maternity care practices. Called one of the women’s health movement’s ‘un-sung heroes’, Carol has contributed to making the world a safer place for future mothers. See: www.maternitywise.org.

Kathy Sanchez

Kathy Sanchez (Indian name, Wan Povi) is a community activist from San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico. Kathy has worked women’s issues related to culture, the environment, and social change for most of her life. She was the co-founder of Tewa Women United, a group that raises awareness about environmental issues, domestic violence prevention, and drug and alcohol abuse. Tewa Women United also promotes innovative support groups for women of all backgrounds. Kathy organized a “grandmother’s circle” of a dozen pueblo women who travel together to the pueblos to support to anyone who needs it on a variety of issues. Kathy is an educator, activist, and fighter for the rights of women and the oppressed. She has organized women’s voices in her community to be instruments of political, social, and economic change for gender equity and equality both in Indian Country and internationally. As part of her work to form links outside her own community, Kathy serves as the New Mexico coordinator for the National Women’s Economic Literacy Collaborative. What makes Kathy special is her ability to inspire and educate others -- she doesn’t tell women what to do, but instead models ways to achieve goals and promote positive change in the world. See: www.tewawomenunited.org.

Marsha Saxton

Marsha Saxton was born with spina bifida. In the early 1970’s, she picked up a copy of Our Bodies, Ourselves, excited at the prospect of learning about her body from a different, more positive, perspective than the pejorative one she had experienced in the mainstream medical system. But, there was nothing about women with disabilities in OBOS’ first edition. Marsha set about to change that and, working with other like-minded women, created the Project on Women & Disabilities, which contributed a section to the next edition of OBOS. She also engaged in dialogue with abortion rights activists and challenged the acceptance of selectively aborting fetuses with disabilities. Marsha is involved with the World Institute on Disability, a research, training, and public policy center dedicated to promoting the civil rights and full societal inclusion of people with disabilities. Marsha’s activism and advocacy include other areas as well, including civil rights; quality health care; and, as the genome project began in the early 1990s, feminist bio-ethics. Marsha tells it like it is, and always willing to engage with others to make change. See: www.wid.org.

Eshauna Smith

Armed with the goal of educating and empowering young women to become the next generation of feminist leaders, Eshauna Smith plays an active role in the reproductive rights movement. As the Program Manager for the Pro-Choice Public Education Project (PEP), Eshauna supervises popular education, research, media, and outreach activities oriented toward young people, and develops tools and resources for the public at-large. By emphasizing advocacy at the grassroots level, Eshauna’s work has prompted many young women to take an active role in protecting their reproductive rights and engaging others in this cause. Eshauna also helped create PEP’s report, She Speaks: African American and Latino Young Women on Reproductive Health and Rights (see the March Women’s Health Activist). Bringing forth the experiences of young women of color yields fresh insight into women’s strength, their capacity to act, and the centrality of their perspectives. Eshauna’s work recognizes differences among women of varying races, ethnicities, and classes, while simultaneously uniting them through shared experiences that have been effective in creating an all-encompassing community for women of all ages. See: www.protectchoice.org.

Barbara Stratton

Barbara Stratton’s experience as a women’s health activist is an example of the difference one committed individual can make. After encountering difficulty obtaining health insurance coverage under her partner’s health plan, due to a Maryland law denying domestic partnership coverage to gay couples, Barbara made it her mission to challenge the law. She eventually won the case, making domestic partner coverage legal in Maryland. Barbara’s next big challenge came when she and her partner attempted to have a child. Their difficulty in finding resources about donor insemination for lesbians prompted Barbara and her partner to create an information resource packet on the topic and distribute it to other women in similar situations. Barbara also founded an insemination support group for lesbians. When, in 2004, Barbara discovered that Frederick Memorial Hospital had banned pregnant women from having a vaginal birth after a previous Caesarean section (VBAC), Barbara co-organized a rally to protest the VBAC ban, and started the Baltimore chapter of the International Caesarean Awareness Network (ICAN). See: www.birthingcircle.org/news.

Elizabeth Sy

Elizabeth Sy is making a significant impact in the young women’s health movement. As a young woman, former sex worker, artist, and activist, Elizabeth is the visionary behind Banteay Srei, a project by and for Southeast Asian sex workers. Banteay Srei was created to provide a safe environment for young women involved in the sex industry. It currently facilitates meetings where these women can discuss issues ranging from the personal to the political, and provides a important space for women who feel isolated and without control over their bodies and lives. Elizabeth’s awareness of the dangers and mistreatment that female sex workers encounter, along with her capacity to raise awareness of important issues and present them in a bold and honest way, makes her advocacy work successful. Elizabeth developed the sex and sexuality curriculum used by Banteay Srei, and has served as the group’s co-facilitator and mentor. Elizabeth also utilizes artwork to provoke and challenge mainstream norms about sex workers and their industry. Her unique approach toward promoting women’s rights is not only inspirational but also refreshing, and a sure signal of great accomplishments to come. For more information, contact the NWHN office.