Women's and girls’ health is a unique field, requiring specific attention to these groups’ needs and issues. Many issues must be addressed, including the lack of accessible information for women and girls capable of enabling informed decision making; lack of understanding and awareness of existing rights; systemic lack of knowledge about diseases that harm women; inequality in access to health services; lack of emphasis on preventive health care; and more. Moreover, women come from diverse social, ethnic, socio-economic, and age groups, which requires adaptive thinking to effectively treat their needs. As a result of a lack of awareness and investment in resources, treatment for women is lacking, and some services are not suited for them. This may lead to a violation of women and girls’ rights to health – ranging from poor quality of life to morbidity and mortality.
The paper, submitted to the Knesset Health Committee by ACRI and the Women and Their Bodies organization, presents a number of concrete issues that must be addressed, including: expanding existing knowledge and information on health inequality from a gender perspective; access to a variety of contraceptives; in-depth educational work on sexuality, sexual health, and body image; allocating budgets for the treatment of women affected by violence, for the enforcement and rehabilitation of abusers, and for educational work on the topic; access to information and treatment of menopausal symptoms; placing elderly women from all demographics and strata at the heart of social discourse; and special attention to the needs of women from marginalized population groups, including underprivileged women, women with disabilities, lesbian and transgender folk, religious women, and more.