Women's Health Issues

Introduction

Throughout history, women's health issues have become an important part of the study of society. The ailments, causes, and treatments all reflect the period in which they occurred. In the Victorian period, women suffered from infections attributed to the society in which they lived. Poor sanitation and a lack of knowledge of germs gave rise to the frequent infections that plagued women during epidemics as well as childbirth. Since then, advances in medicine and the sanitary conditions of society have brought about a different avenue of health problems for women. The women of today face not only diseases of genetic origin, but more importantly, diseases that arise from the poor habits that society has developed. Whether in the nineteenth century or the twenty first century, women's health issues reflect the lifestyle of the period in which they occur.

Importance

Even though women represent fifty one percent of the population, only recently have researchers, as well as the medical community, focused attention on women's special health care needs (McFadden 404). Women's health issues deserve special concentration since health care matters impact women differently than men. Due to the fact that women have to juggle both labor at work and labor at home, women often suffer from diseases previously thought to only affect men. Many diseases also occur in a much greater proportion of women than men, and some occur in women alone (McFadden 404). Most research focused only on men, with no knowledge about how the illness affected women or how the treatments improved or damaged their caliber of health (McFadden 404). Therefore, women's health issues have become an important part in examining the health of a population and in determining the ailments and treatments of a certain time period.

Women's Health in the Victorian Period

The health of women in the Victorian period was threatened mostly by contagious infections caused by the poor living conditions and public sanitation. Pregnancy and childbirth became the most dangerous time in the life of a Victorian woman. Maternal mortality, the deaths of women during pregnancy, labor, or post-partem, found itself as the main cause of death among women during the nineteenth century (Kiple 214). The 1850's had an average number of maternal deaths per day of 8.5 while this number reached a peak during the 1890's with 12 maternal deaths per day (Kiple 214). In most cases, the onset of puerperal fever, an infection that occurred in the pelvic region after delivery, was the cause of fatality among women. Puerperal fever generally set in two to five days after delivery and included such clinical manifestations as acute fever, an enlarged and tender uterus, pelvic abscesses and profuse menstrual flow (Kiple 955). In the early nineteenth century, obstetricians began to realize that puerperal fever could be contagious. Physician Oliver Wendell Holmes stated in 1843 that puerperal fever was indeed contagious and that a physician could spread the disease from one patient to another (Kiple 956). Hungarian obstetrician Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis advised in 1848 that the attending doctors should wash their hands in chlorinated water between patients and wear clean clothes to prevent such a transmission (Williams 249). This discovery brought about a major reform in the sterilization of equipment and extensive practice of antisepsis, which killed infectious microbes. It also aided in better training and regulations of midwives, emphasis on antenatal care, further training for specialist obstetricians, and the establishment of maternity hospitals (Kiple 217). While many believed that the clinical factors previously mentioned provided the reasons for the high maternal mortality rate, others felt that the blame should lie in the non-clinical factors. Family income, nutrition, housing, hygiene, and availability of obstetric care all became influential factors in the occurrence of puerperal infection (Kiple 220).

Today, pregnancy and childbirth have become the least common threats to women. Presently, the average number of maternal deaths per day has dropped to about one per week (Kiple 214). High standards of obstetric care, drugs such as sulfonamides and penicillin, blood transfusions, and good health all contribute to the intense decline in maternal mortality. A higher standard of living, as well as more scrupulous public health and sanitation regulations, also promote a decrease in the prevalence of infections.

Another main threat to women's health in the Victorian period dealt with the widespread epidemics that ran rampant during the nineteenth century. These contagious infectious diseases caused prevalent illness and death throughout the world, affecting women as well as home life. Women became especially at risk of contracting these diseases since they were in charge of domestic work. Therefore they were more commonly exposed to the source of infection, such as livestock, water sources, sewage sources, as well as becoming exposed to infected persons by caring for them in the home. These diseases included cholera, tuberculosis, influenza, and typhoid.

One of the most prominent diseases that affected Victorian women was known as cholera. Cholera is an acute diarrheal disease that usually occurs in conjunction with vomiting, which results in severe dehydration (Kiple 642). The bacteria spreads by fecal-oral transmission which generally happens from contaminated water supplies and food. Three extensive pandemics occurred during the Victorian period that led to the death of millions of people, beginning in 1848 with the arrival of cholera to Europe from India (Williams 249). It has now been determined that unsatisfactory sanitary conditions were needed to support the cholera outbreaks in Europe (Kiple 643). The main sources of contamination include leaking sewage tanks and food tainted from infected persons handling it. Improvements in public health measures, such as the British Sanitary Act of 1866, and protected water supplies and sewage disposal assisted in eliminating the frequency of the infections (Williams 325).

Women's Health Today

Today, many of the infectious illnesses that wrecked havoc on the lives of the Victorians do not effect the current population nearly as severely, if at all. Since the nineteenth century, the causes of the diseases have been found, isolated, and studied. The development of antibiotics became pivotal in treating these diseases, as well as determining the proper treatment once the pathogen of the diseases had been discovered. An improved standard of living and sanitation also played a huge part in helping to alleviate the frequency of the diseases, as well as better personal hygiene, improved housing and diets, and public health interventions (Kiple 291).

Since the development of antibiotics, advances in medicine, and an improved standard of living, women today face much different medical obstacles than those of the Victorian period. Infections and communicable diseases no longer affect the population as they did in the past, which leaves an entirely different group of health problems for women in today's society. The present problems in medicine focus more on genetic disposition in addition to the effects of poor habits accumulated by women, such as smoking, drugs, high cholesterol, and obesity.

Heart disease currently is the number one cause of death of women, taking the lives of more than 500,000 women a year (McFadden 405). Women who endure a heart attack are more likely than men to die from a heart attack and are oftentimes more difficult to diagnose than men. Women experience angina, or chest pain, more often before a heart attack, but other symptoms occur that differ from those that happen in men. Women regularly have pain in the neck, jaw, arms, or back as well as the chest, which is frequently confused with ulcers, gallbladder disease, or hiatal hernias (McFadden 405). While some risk of heart disease lies in genetic disposition to the disease, many other factors increase the risk of developing heart disease. These factors include the poor habits previously mentioned as well as falling estrogen levels after menopause, low socioeconomic status, and use of oral contraceptives for an extended period of time (McFadden 406).

Cancer falls in as the second leading cause of death among women. Although much attention is focused on cancer of the reproductive system, lung cancer actually accounts as the most prominent cancer in women, killing 46,000 women a year (McFadden 407). This is largely due to the higher rates of smoking by women, as well as the effects of second hand smoke. Although early detection can lead to effective surgery, the survival rate for lung cancer states that only thirteen percent of all individuals diagnosed live five years beyond the diagnosis (McFadden 407). Breast cancer also finds itself as a leading killer of women today. Each year, 180,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer, and 46,000 die from complications (McFadden 407). While family history and irregularities in the menstrual cycle at an early age are the main risk factors, others include excess weight, excessive alcohol consumption, a high fat diet, and vitamin A deficiency. Early detection and early treatment appear to be the best chance for a cure, and reducing the risk of cancer by avoiding the risks continue to be the best preventative plan.

While progression in science and in living conditions have helped to abate the health problems of the past, womenęs health issues continue to play an important role in society. Since half of the population as well as the workforce consist of women, their health should have as much precedence as the health of men. Not only should society as a whole consider women's health issues as significant as men's health issues, but the public should also bear in mind that the major health concerns of the time reflect the society in which they live. By trying to eliminate some of the risk factors and causes for prevalent diseases and illnesses, society alone could help to solve chronic health problems along with scientific research. By focusing on the causes as well as the effects of particular illnesses on women, the issues faced in women's health today could also become a thing of the past.

Resources

Kiple, Kenneth F. ed. World History of Human Disease. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1993

McFadden, Margaret, ed. Women's Issues. Salem Press: California, 1997

Williams, Neville, ed. Chronology of World History. Vol. III. ABC-CLIO: California, 1999