Proceedings from the Harvard Conference on Women and Health, 1975
The 1975 Conference on Women and Health brought together nearly 2,500 women from across the United States and Canada. They met at Harvard University to talk about "current issues which affect all women seeking and giving health care." The conference was dedicated to community women and women health workers, in hopes that they would "make it possible for all women to reclaim control of their bodies and their health."
The transcripts and proceedings from this historic conference are available as PDFs:
Read the table of contents, intro, and conference program (cover through page 8)
Participants, including students, medical providers, and feminist activists, discussed a range of topics, including the state of U.S. abortion laws in the wake of the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision, the impact of violence on women’s health, the use of medicine as social control, lesbian health care, the role of women professionals in the women’s health movement, and the need for reform in birth practices.
OBOS founders Norma Swenson and Judy Norsigian were the main organizers of the conference. Presenters included women’s health icons Judy Herman, Jean Baker Miller, Barbara Seaman, Helen Rodríguez Trías, and OBOS founders Ruth Bell and Jane Pincus. Labor activist Dolores Huerta, surgeon Dorothy Brown, writer Barbara Ehrenreich, and philosopher Mary Daly also spoke at the conference.