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Blog Five

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Blog 5 Margaret Sanger Margaret Sanger is one of the most influential and inspiring women in history- especially in regard to women’s rights and reproductive health. I recall her name coming up in an American history course as we studied women’s rights, so when this assignment came up, I knew exactly who I wanted to study further. Born on September 14, 1879 in Corning, New York, Sanger watched her mother’s health suffer for years as she endured miscarriage after miscarriage, ultimately leading to her early death at only 40 years old. Witnessing her mother’s deteriorating health inspired her to attend college and study nursing, and she participated in many strikes as a member of the Women’s Committee of the New York Socialist Party, the Liberal Club, and the Industrial Workers of the World Union. An early sex education pioneer, Sanger worked as a nurse and campaigned to educate women about sex, authoring a newspaper column, “What Every Girl Should Know.” She treated many w
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Blog Four

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Blog Four Watching the video, “Women and the World of Work,” was quite eye-opening and raised several questions for me. This video assessed how far our world has come for gender equality and women empowerment in the workplace over the past 20 years, and although much has been accomplished, the video describes how many barriers remain. For example, present day, the number of women working is still much lower than men- 77% of working-aged men around the world have jobs compared to only 50% of women. One woman asks, “What is society doing for us? If we want to work, we should be able to!” And she’s right. Why should women be any less likely to be able to work and have a decent job than men? While we have seen growth, one major setback we’ve seen in the past 20 years is that more young men and women (aged 15-24) are out of work than they were two decades ago. The global economy is improving, yet young people are less likely to have a job. Why is this? Are there fewer jobs availa
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Blog Three

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Blog Three As a “natural worrier,” I chose option three for this blog post assignment. I visited the American Institute of Stress website and assessed their top fifty signs of stress, fully expecting to be able to relate to just a handful of them. I was shocked, however, when I realized just how many signs of stress I experience on a weekly basis. Out of the fifty signs they list, I experience twenty-four when I feel overwhelmed or stressed. That’s almost half of them! Realizing the large number of symptoms I experience when I am stressed got me thinking about the effect stress has on my overall health- not just my mental health, but my physical health as well. Frequent headaches, jaw clenching, dizziness, muscle spasms, fidgeting, stomach pain, and mood swings are only a few of the signs they list that I associate with stress. Do you notice that they are all physical symptoms? Stress doesn’t just affect us mentally and make us feel psychologically tired and anxious. It aff
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Blog Two

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Blog Two:  Menopause from Different Cultural Perspectives        Menopause . Hearing that word makes me squirm- even as a woman who will inevitably experience it one day herself. I’ve obviously always known I’d go through “The Change” one day… I mean, all women do. I’ve also obviously heard how miserable it can be between the mood swings, hot flashes, depression, insomnia, and horrible night sweats. But not once have I ever thought of why I’ve only heard such negative thoughts and attitudes attached to the word “menopause.” It can’t be all bad, can it? I mean, at least you won’t get that monthly visit from Aunt Flo (who always has the worst timing and brings a slew of unpleasant physical ailments). As I dug into researching the perspectives of menopause in other cultures outside of the U.S., I was quite surprised to learn that menopause is not always viewed as such a negative, gloomy life event. It’s not just the perspectives and attitudes toward menopause that differ- even t
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Blog One

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Blog One After taking the NOVA Global Trends Quiz from PBS, a few of the quiz questions and answers truly shocked me. For starters, I was surprised that the fertility rate in less developed countries has decreased from 6.1 children per woman to 3.3 children per woman over the past 50 years. That's quite a jump, and it makes me question why . As technology and medicine greatly advance over time, you'd expect health and fertility to increase , not decrease . This can obviously differ in less developed countries that may not have the advances in medicine as we do in the U.S., but it makes me wonder if these women are getting the necessary health care they need- and if not, why . Do they not have access to it? Is it not a priority? Is it too expensive?  Another question/answer that stunned me is that in the year 2000, the World Health Organization estimates that 527,000 women in the developing world died from maternal causes (during pregnancy or childbirth). Carrying and b
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Blog Bio

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Blog Bio HS 3133.51: Perspectives on Women's Health   Welcome to my blog! Happy 2019, everyone! My name is Mallorie Anderson, and I am a senior at TWU. This summer I will graduate with a Bachelor of General Studies Degree with a concentration in health studies and business. T o be completely honest, I have no idea what I want to do after graduation. It both excites me and scares me knowing graduation is near! I am exploring graduate school options and will likely further my education and pursue a master's degree.  Throughout this course, I hope to learn about the many factors and demographics that influence women's physical and mental health- from age and race to income and education levels. After taking several courses at TWU centered around the vast importance of mental health and the promotion of mental health in our healthcare system, I also hope to learn more about mental health specifically in regard to women. From mental health screenings and
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