Founding and processes of the International Council on Women's Health Issues: attentive partnering. The first 19...

I present a theoretical analysis and global influence of the first 19 years of the International Council on Women's Health Issues (ICOWHI). To do so, I analyzed observational, documented, and casual data using the constant comparative method of classical grounded theory. All data bits were analyzed with one another, coded, categorized, and reexamined until I discovered a central category that seemed to explain most of the social scene under study. The explanatory power of the central category, attentive partnering, is presented in terms of its applicability to the interactive relationship between participants working for a common goal, and within the cultural, temporal, social, and social structural context of the relationships. Partnering can occur wherever individuals with a common purpose assemble. The conditions under which the interactive process of attentive partnering occurs seem to be the presence of determined, persuasive leaders, who foster growth-enhancing collegial relationships. When this social system is in place, a small volunteer organization can have a global impact.