Third World women call for a balanced perspective on women's health

In 1990 a conference entitled "In Search of Balanced Perspectives and Global Solidarity for Women's Health and Reproductive Rights" took place in Manila, the Philippines. The message from the Third World women who attended was that their struggles for personal and reproductive freedom are integrally linked with their dependent economic status. In addition, the conference addressed the violence many Third World women suffer as a result of oppressive state and religious policies. More than 50% of the women who attended one panel testified that they had personally experienced "state violence." The women called for an immediate end to women's oppression via nationalism and militarism in addition to racism, sexism, and classism. They represented a challenge to all of us--to work toward a balanced perspective on women's health in the context of the socioeconomic and political development of all peoples.