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WOMEN AND HEALTH

Women’s health is recognised as the major influence on child and family health.
The link between personal health and the health of the economy is also recognised hence female
health is of great significance in national and international terms.
However, there are a number of concerning issues to be highlighted:

a) Inequalities

In her introduction to the Public Policy Projects paper
‘Women’s Health Agenda: Redressing the Balance’ (June 2022)
Dame Clare states that:

‘It is my personal feeling that women have no more rights regarding their bodies and healthcare
than when I was born 62 years ago. As a GP of over 40 years, I have treated thousands of women.
However, throughout the process of crafting this report, I have been shocked to learn that many of
the medical interventions and procedures held up by institutions and policymakers are not in place
for the good of women’s health but serve to prevent women from being in control of their own bod-
ies’.

b) Violence
Post Covid -19 a range of physical and mental health emerged affecting the entire popula-
tion. The report above states that the pandemic ‘…has led to the premature death of millions of
people world-wide. Running in parallel has been another pandemic, a silent one. The United Nations
Women has named this the ‘shadow pandemic’ and it is one which has also affected millions, but
this time, only women. It has not been caused by a Coronavirus but rather by the intimate partners
of girls and women. Research carried out by the United Nations points to an estimated 243 million
women across the world who have experienced physical or sexual violence during Covid-19.’

c) Loneliness
Loneliness has a detrimental effect on all aspects of health; the Royal College of Nursing
stated that it can be as damaging as smoking 15 cigarettes per day. Statistically women live longer
than men hence women are more likely to be lonely than men.

UN Women [2022] The shadow pandemic: violence against women during COVID-19 [online] Available at: https://www.
unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/in-focus-gender-equality-in-covid-19-response/violence-against-women-during-covid-19
[Accessed 2 March 2022 )

Loneliness. [Internet] Royal College of Nursing. [Accessed 18 February 2021] Available from: https://www.rcn.org.uk/
clinical-topics/public-health/inclusion-health-care/loneliness

Finally BPW UK members will recall Professor Sir Muir Gray’s presentation on health and well-
being (September 2020) and may be interested to see the following video: https://youtu.be/
vRtU_m8ruwk.

Jill Turner, June 2022 SEW