March
29, 2002
Exhibition
Celebrates a Century of Progress in Women's Health
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One hundred years
ago, Mount Holyoke graduates would have been fortunate to live
beyond their forty-eighth birthdays. Thanks to advocacy and public
health initiatives, women graduating in 2002 can expect to live
an average of seventy-eight years. The United States Department
of Health and Human Services (HHS) has honored the progress made
in women's health in the twentieth century by creating the
Women's Health Time Capsule and the historical document
A Century of Women's Health, 1900–2000. It unveiled
both at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland,
December 3, the tenth anniversary of its Office on Women's
Health (OWH). An exhibition about the time capsule and educational
materials on women's health issues will be displayed in the
lobby and first floor of Clapp Hall April 1–5. The display
is sponsored by the Department of Biological Sciences, the Mount
Holyoke Health Center, and the Massachusetts Public Research Interest
Group educational campaign, Women's Health and the Environment.
A reception to open
the exhibition is scheduled for Monday, April 1, at 4 pm in Clapp
Hall's lobby. There will be two brief presentations beginning
at 4:30 pm: United States Region I women's health coordinator
Laurie Robinson will talk about the history of the time capsule
exhibition and share essays written by adolescents and presented
at the exhibition's opening in Washington. Judy Norsigian,
executive director and cofounder of the Boston Women's Health
Collective, will talk about the history of the collective, which
produces the women's health guide Our Bodies Ourselves, and
about current and emerging health issues for women. State Representative
Nancy Flavin, who serves on health task forces, will also participate.
From birth-control
products and hormone-replacement therapies, to a tube of lipstick
and a girdle, to literature on breast self-exams, baby care, and
"GirlPower!," the Women's Health Time Capsule contains
more than seventy items that document the evolution of health
efforts and health communications over the last century, as well
as items that have improved women's quality of life; information
on state-of-the-art diagnosis and treatment of diseases that most
affect women today; and personal articles that demonstrate women's
continued interest in beauty and body image. On tour through April,
the time capsule will be buried on the grounds of the National
Institutes of Health during Women's Health Week, which begins
Mother's Day, May 12, 2002. Seven girls from across the country
participated in the capsule's dedication and were asked to
preserve information about it for future generations; it is designed
to be opened in the year 2100.
"As an institution
Mount Holyoke has been on the forefront of so many social, educational,
and scientific movements," said Reem Ghandour '97, a
women's health analyst at the Office on Women's Health
who helped MHC secure the time capsule exhibition. "I see
the Women's Health Time Capsule project as one testament
to the progress in health and science that so many Mount Holyoke
women have contributed to and will continue to drive throughout
the next century."
Related events include
the Tuesday, April 2, showing of Rachel's Daughters, a documentary
that follows a group of breast cancer activists on a personal
mission to unearth the causes of breast cancer. In addition, students,
faculty, and staff will have opportunities to get involved in
letter-writing campaigns concerning women's health issues on Wednesday,
April 3. Tables will be set up from 8 am to 5 pm on the first
floor of Clapp Lab with information and writing materials. On
Thursday, April 4, the Massachusetts Committee Water Watch of
the Massachusetts Public Research Interest Group will sponsor
a forum on water-quality issues, including the impact of water
quality on women's health. For details about these events, contact
Margaret Byrne '04 at x5787.
"There are lots
of careers, in addition to those in the medical field, that affect
women's health, such as careers in politics, economics, education,
and media," said MHC Health Services Director Karen Engell,
who hopes there will be interdisciplinary interest in the exhibition.
"Consider the profound impact of marketing on body image
and on related women's health issues, such as eating disorders,"
she said. "This exhibition is a great opportunity for students,
faculty, and community members to consider their own connection
to women's health and to share their concerns and their suggestions
for time capsule items."
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