Our Roots
Starting with the 1970 Pill Hearings, women let it be known that they would no longer blindly accept what they were told by doctors, the medical establishment, or their government. A women’s health movement developed, knit together by hundreds of grassroots women’s health projects in communities across the United States.
45 years later, the Networks’ advocacy efforts and the independent health information we provide have made a difference in the lives of millions of women. Despite our successes, however, our work is far from done. Decades years after the first protest, we still need to raise our voices to say that women’s lives matter and women’s health matters!
Our Founders
A small group of visionary women recognized the need for an organization that could function as an "action arm" of the women's health movement by directing influencing policy in Washington, D.C.
Barbara Seaman
Phyllis Chesler
Belita Cowan
Alice Wolfson
Mary Howell
Continuing the fight
Our Impact
As times have changed, the Network has changed with them.
Today, we place a growing emphasis on new forms of organizing in addition to our consistent watchdog work. As part of our Raising Women’s Voices project, we work with grassroots local leaders to expand health care access and ultimately, transform the way health care is provided. Women’s health is human health, women’s rights are human rights, and the fight for health equity and justice isn’t going anywhere.