Editorial

Marge Berer

T HIS issue of Reproductive Health Matters recounts a history that both editors and authors have been involved in creating, fragments of the broader picture of

women’s health activism. Many of the papers are by women who founded groups and networks in their own countries and internationally. They reflect on past events and achievements, situate aims and objectives in the present day, and suggest agendas and strategies for future action. Each reflects in some way the dialectic between the local and the global, the individual and the collective, the personal and the political.

New projects are springing up everywhere; others are being dreamed up and planned. Yet some groups are saying: ‘We’re busy trying to survive.. .’ Women’s health centres and publi- cations of many years have shut down; others are about to do so. Is this a matter of the new replacing the old, or a comment on the problems an amorphous movement faces in reaching for the future at all?

There is much diversity and divergence among feminists, but in these papers only within certain parameters. In fact, the interconnectedness of the points of view in these papers is striking, reflecting a coherent strand of thinking and experience across the globe. All the continents are represented, though some regions more than others. In feminist generational terms both the second and third waves are present; but youth is under-represented, a widely acknowledged failing about which nothing is often done.

A real limitation, though, is the fact that some networks and currents of thinking are not represented. Only one paper and the book review in this issue are devoted to examining conflict and political differences between feminists and feminists, and between feminists and others; more authors note that differences exist, but most stop short of analysing or describing them in depth, and do not discuss how differences have led to constructive dialogue and debate, or the

opposite, and the consequences thereof. One paper, above all, challenged me to think

hard about the past and future - Maria Betania Avila’s on the importance of partnerships and alliances for the feminist movement. I was grateful for the hours I had to spend as an editor trying to wrest her meanings from the English language, because it forced me to examine my own political aims, and try to come to terms with current frustrations and dissatisfactions among feminists, which I share. An activist at heart, I spend much of my time in the mainstream, invited to participate and give advice from a women-centred and gender-aware (but not too feminist) stance. It is hard for feminists in this position to make demands for support for our issues in return, even though those same institutions want our support - yet this is the imperative she suggests as the way forward, but through partnerships and alliances.

In the light of disagreements at the 8th Inter- national Women and Health Meeting in Rio de Janeiro this year, we need to face up to how territorial and competitive we can be; how threatened we can feel by each other; how far we can get from living up to our own ideals of sisterhood and achieving our goals - not just our personal agendas and ambitions. At the same time, that meeting re-affirmed how strong the movement is, how much it has evolved, how powerful we have been in accomplishing far- reaching goals, putting aside differences to pursue common aims and dancing through the night in celebration of our work as women.

Clearly, those of us focusing our energies on women’s reproductive health and rights are poised on a knife-edge between the past and the future. The successes of Cairo and Beijing have been hailed and dissected, our language has entered the common currency, but how many governments and institutions have moved from words to action, from signing documents to implementing- justice and better health for

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Reproductive Health Matters, No 10, Novemb~ 1997

women, threatened as always by backlash and

indifference?

Women’s reproductive health and rights are nowhere near being achieved, let alone women’s sexual autonomy, that last bastion. It is time for new strategies and long-term plans. What has kept this movement relevant and strong is the dedication to finding out and articulating women’s needs until these are heard, formu-

lating this knowledge into demands and working as activists to turn ‘needs’ and ‘demands’ into realities locally, nationally, globally. Who after all will empower us, if not we women ourselves?

This issue of Reproductive Health Matters shows that the international women’s health movement and all the groups and individuals in it have a history that deserves to be recorded and interpreted, for the sake of the future.

5th International Women and Health Meeting, Costa Rica 1987

Submissions Welcome: Safe Motherhood: 1998 and 1999 Special Publication 1998 The editors welcome submissions on the follow- ing themes for future issues of the journal:

1998

RHM 11 Women’s Health Services: Where Are They Going?

RHM 12 Sexuality

1999

RHM 13 Living Without Children

RHM 14 Access to Reproductive Health: A Question of Distributive Justice

Have pregnancy and childbirth become safer for women in the past ten years? In recognition of a decade of ‘safe motherhood’ initiatives, RHM is planning a special publication on this theme. We seek papers that examine the successes and failures of national initiatives from a women- centred perspective; on controversial issues, eg. should training of traditional birth attendants be stopped; and papers on subjects that have not yet received sufficient attention, eg. the implications of HIV for safe motherhood and breastfeeding, violence during pregnancy, and women’s per- spectives on miscarriage and stillbirth. This pub- lication will focus on wanted pregnancies.

Deadline for submissions: 1 May 1998.

New Journal Sections A Page from History A paper written in the past that remains relevant today. In this issue we are proud to include a paper by Ann Oakley, and we welcome sugg- estions for future issues.

Round-Up: Conferences and Courses A Round-Up section on conferences and courses that are open to participants internationally; cover issues of international scope and women-centred perspectives. Free, subject to availability, in ex- change for promoting RHM’s publications. Please send the following details by the submission date: Conference/course title; venue/ dates; 50 words on content, aims and who it is for; contact details for further information.

A Note on Submissions Submission dates for each issue have been moved forward by two months to give editors and authors more time to work on papers. Hence, for the May issue, the submission date is now 1 October and for the November issue it is 1 April. However, we will continue to make every effort to be flexible about these dates.

RHM in Chinese RHM 6 (November 1995) and RHM 7 (May 1996) are now available in Chinese. RHM 8 and 9 will follow in the coming year. Each contains translations of the introduction, several full- length papers, all the abstracts and some round- up items. Available free:

National Research Institute for Family Planning, 12 Da Hui Si, Wei Gong Cun (Hai Dian Qu), Beijing 100081, China. Fax 86-10-6217-9119

SPECIAL OFFER 1998

Subscriptions for 1998 will include a free copy of RHM’s first special publication Beyond Acceptability: Users’ Perspectives

RHM and Blackwell Science Reproductive Health Matters is pleased to announce that from January 1998, we have a contract with Blackwell Science in Oxford to handle subscriptions, printing and distribution of future and back issues of the journal. They will also be working to promote the journal with us, so that it will reach a wider audience. We hope by this to free up time for us to devote to the work we are here to do - produce high quality, relevant information for the field.

For subscribers, one advantage is being able to pay by credit card. We have had to increase the subscription rate, but it remains on a sliding scale. This means there is still a rate to fit everyone’s pocket, as part of our commitment that the journal should be accessible to everyone who wants to read it.

Despite the rising costs of production and postage, we did not raise the rates for five years. Now we have started thinking more about sustainability, and the fact that only a small part of our budget has been met through subscription income. Hence, an increase was inevitable. In fact, we still cost less than other comparable journals and we intend to keep it that way!

Editorial Changes to Note RHM’s office in London remains the editorial office, including for submissions and all other information and correspondence. The journal will still be numbered con- secutively but a volume number will be added to indicate number of years of publication. In 1998, we are publishing Volume 6, Numbers 11 and 12. * Copyright in papers will be assigned by authors and held @ by Reproductive Health Matters. Blackwell Science will handle reprint permissions and offprints.

Subscriptions in 1998 . Subscriptions and other orders should be sent

directly to Blackwell’s using our new order form.

?? Subscriptions will be annual, for two issues, and can no longer start mid-year.

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