Throughout our history, women have played a critical role in advocating for improvements in the health and health care of not only women, but also the population as a whole. Advocacy has been defined as “taking a position on an issue, and initiating actions in a deliberate attempt to influence private and public choices” (Labonte, 1994, p. 263). Advocacy can assume multiple forms, including community organizing, coalition building, advocacy through politics, the courts, legislatures, or regulatory agencies, and advocacy through the press. These mechanisms are not mutually exclusive, and many are used simultaneously to effectuate important goals.

Other women have made significant contributions to health through their professional achievements in science and medicine. Some women have asserted the right of women to practice in a health care profession, such as Elizabeth Blackwell, who became the first female physician in the United States. Others, like Helen Brooke Taussig, were pioneers...