Some Thoughts

I am feeling slightly burnt out this week, so here is a series of free flowing thoughts I have had this week about my topic:

There are plenty of social factors working against women and women of color at all times. Having to factor in physical health being difficult to care for makes living in this country feel like an impossible task. The deeply ingrained patriarchy and capitalist systems in place are exhausting.

How has bias training and other systemic change not been implemented in hospital and medical settings yet? This is an issue that is centuries old and has years of research to support.

A lot of stories that women have going to the doctor are positive. I have to keep reminding myself of this after reading article and first hand accounts one after another. There are positive experiences, doctors are saving lives. There are positive things happening all over this country constantly. Toddlers are taking their first steps, women are having beautiful birth stories, someone somewhere is celebrating a birthday or a promotion or any other number of victories. I get a picture of a puppy texted to my phone every Monday. (Just send a 🐶 to ‭(213) 212–6731‬ to get some too). The point is that good things are happening and sometimes we need to climb out of the social media and research hole and breathe for a minute.

Is it truly as possible to change a system from the inside as people suggest? Women of color going into the medical field with the intention of making it better are able to make things better on a client by client basis. Potentially on a bigger scale as well, depending on the situations and circumstances. It’s hard to determine what steps need to be taken to solve an issue as big as gender disparities in healthcare because it is such a large and systemic issue. It is easy to point out the issue, but not as simple to try and figure out and promote a solution.

I remember reading an article about childbirth in the United States as part of a class I took last semester. It detailed stories of unnecessary c-sections and drugs being pushed in order to speed up the labor process so that doctors could move on to other things, or charge more for the procedures. It was obviously a very biased article for natural births and midwifery, but those stories I will never forget. Its part of the reason I decided to pick this topic, although I suppose I didn’t spend a ton of time talking about that aspect.

Anyway, this semester allowed me to research this expansive topic and start to ask some of these broader questions. Trying to stay positive with finals and everything happening right now and I wish the best of luck to everyone else in the same situation!