Women's Health and the World's Cities

347 Pages·2011·7.6 MB·English

by  Afaf Ibrahim Meleis, Eugenie L. Birch, Susan M. Wachter

Women’s Health and the World’s Cities
The City in the Twenty-First Century
Eugenie L. Birch and Susan M. Wachter, Series Editors
A complete list of books in the series is available from the publisher.
Women’s Health
and the World’s Cities
Edited by
Afaf Ibrahim Meleis,
Eugenie L. Birch, Susan M. Wachter
and
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS
PHILADELPHIA
Copyright © 2011 University of Pennsylvania Press
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations used for purposes of review
or scholarly citation, none of this book may be reproduced in any form
by any means without written permission from the publisher.
Published by
University of Pennsylvania Press
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4112
www.upenn.edu/pennpress
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Women’s health and the world’s cities / edited by Afaf Ibrahim Meleis,
Eugenie L. Birch, and Susan M. Wachter. — 1st ed.
p. cm. — (The city in the twenty-first century)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8122-4353-6 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Urban women—Health and hygiene. 2. Urban women—
Social conditions. 3. Urban health. 4. Women’s health
services. 5. Urbanization—Environmental aspects. 6. Urbanization—
Social aspects. I. Meleis, Afaf Ibrahim. II. Birch, Eugenie
Ladner. III. Wachter, Susan M. IV. Series: City in the twenty-first
century book series.
RA564.85.W666524 2011
362.1082—dc22
2011012391
To Dean Kehler
for inspiring and supporting this initiative
from its inception, and for his unwavering commitment
to healthier communities
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Contents
Foreword
Amy Gutmann ix
Introduction: Developing Urban Areas as if Gender Matters
Afaf Ibrahim Meleis 1
Part I: Women’s Health in Urban Areas
Chapter 1. Women’s Health and the City: A Comprehensive Approach
for the Developing World
Julio Frenk and Octavio Gómez-Dantés 15
Chapter 2. Policy for a Better Future: A Focus on Girls and Women
Ruth Levine 28
Chapter 3. Girls’ Health and Educational Needs in Urban Environments
Varina Tjon-A-Ten, Brad Kerner, Shweta Shukla, and Anne Hochwalt 35
Chapter 4. Making Cities Safe for Women and Girls:
Integrating a Gender Perspective into Urban Health and Planning
Claudia Garcia-Moreno and Manupreet Chawla 53
Part II: Urbanization, Space, and Geography
Chapter 5. Design of Healthy Cities for Women
Eugenie L. Birch 73
Chapter 6. Are Women Victims, or Are They Warriors?
Sheela Patel 93
viii Contents
Chapter 7. Women with Disabilities and Cities
Rosaly Correa-de-Araujo 110
Chapter 8. The Health and Well-Being of Immigrant Women in Urban Areas
DeAnne K. Hilfinger Messias 144
Part III: Models of Excellence
Chapter 9. Women’s Health in the Urban Community:
National Institutes of Health Perspective
Vivian W. Pinn and Nida H. Corry 169
Chapter 10. Transforming Urban Environments
Diane Cornman-Levy, Grace R. Dyrness, Jane Golden,
David Gouverneur, and Jeane Ann Grisso 188
Chapter 11. Bearing Witness: Women in Cities as
Agents of Transformation for God
Grace R. Dyrness 209
Chapter 12. Accessibility to Health Care in Urban Environments
Francisca M. Mwangangi 227
Chapter 13. Mobilizing Communities to Prevent Violence
Against Women and HIV in Kampala, Uganda
Tina C. Musuya 240
Chapter 14. Philanthropy and Its Impact on Urban Women’s Health
Katherina M. Rosqueta and Carol A. McLaughlin 258
Afterword
Susan M. Wachter 273
Notes 277
References 281
List of Contributors 305
Index 315
Acknowledgments 331
Foreword
Amy Gutmann
The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain until it is secured
for all of us and incorporated into our common life.
—Jane Addams
Long before the University of Pennsylvania hosted the 18th Congress of
the International Council on Women’s Health Issues, American suffrag-
ist Jane Addams was skillfully integrating her argument for extending
voting rights to women with trenchant observations about health, the
environment, and nutrition. Writing in 1915, she advocated for women’s
active involvement in the public sphere, emphasizing that individual
action alone could not provide access to transportation, housing, and
unpolluted air and water, or ensure the availability of safe and nutri-
tious food.
Nearly a century later, we continue to draw connections between
women’s opportunities and the places in which they live. Addams would
certainly marvel at our progress, but she also would remind us that if we
do not continue to broaden the scope of our efforts “we shall fail to go
forward, thinking complacently that we have ‘arrived’ when in reality
we have not yet started.” Securing voting rights was, indeed, a historic
policy breakthrough, but women’s journey to control their own destiny
is far from being over.
Despite inspiring progress around the world, far too many women
and girls continue to suffer abuse and to meet unimaginable fates. They
are systematically tortured and raped as a war tactic. They are exploited
for profit, forced into marriages as children, and killed for bringing dis-
honor on their families.
The access of women and girls to education, health care, and employ-
ment is grossly unequal to that of their male counterparts, and true
gender equality remains a goal for all nations. Since 2006, the three