International Women's Health Coalition records

The International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC) advocated for women’s reproductive rights and health between 1984 and 2021. The IWHC acted as a comprehensive resource for sexual and reproductive health information, data and recommendations. They partnered with researchers, policy makers, legislators, contraceptive and health service providers, and educators to provide sexual and reproductive rights and health services, programs, and global policy analysis. The organization worked towards significantly advancing services for contraception, safe abortion, maternity care, preventing sexually transmitted diseases, and sexuality education.

Originally founded by Merle Goldberg as the National Women’s Health Coalition, it became the IWHC in 1984 with Joan Banks Dunlop serving as the organization’s first President and Adrienne Germain serving as Vice President in 1985. During their leadership, Dunlop and Germain created an intellectual capital program to collect credible data and create evidence-based advocacy tools to influence policymaking and improve access and quality for women’s health services in the Global South.

Among its most notable impacts was the IWHC’s role in forming United Nations policy on women’s rights at the 1994 UN International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). IWHC helped draft the “Women’s Declaration on Population Policies,” a document that stated women should have the right to control their sexual and reproductive health and rights and called for a redesign of global population policy. The declaration also listed minimum program requirements for implementing international and national population policies and programs as well as fundamental ethical principles for women’s health care. The outcome of ICPD represented a major shift in global policymaking, one that started to center women in population policy and the structure of sexual and reproductive health and rights services.

In July of 2020, an open letter to the IWCH Board Chair from former Black and women of color IWHC staff members charged the organization with institutional racism and bullying. The letter described racist, homophobic, transphobic and intimidating behavior and remarks from the organization’s leadership and management, which was solely white, as well as favoritism of white staff, tokenism of Black employees, and unequal distribution of labor. Although a subsequent independent investigation cleared then President Francois Girard and two other senior managers at the organization of illegal racial discrimination, it did find the organization had a pervading culture of fear and intimidation which had a disproportionate negative impact on staff of color. Girard resigned in 2020 and the IWHC dissolved in 2021. Board Chair Kathleen Regan announced in June 2021 the IWHC would be merging with the International Planned Parenthood Federation Western Hemisphere Region, (IPPFWHR) and CHANGE, a Washington-based organization advocating for global health policy. This alliance is now known as Fòs Feminista.

Source: “An open letter from the former, truly bold and independent voices of the International Women’s Health Coalition”. https://medium.com/@iwhcanonymous/an-open-letter-from-the-former-truly-bold-and-independent-voices-of-the-international-womens-2a36f0577d7d (accessed March 31, 2022).

Source: Ford, Liz “Women's health organisation president resigns following bullying and racism investigation” The Guardian. October 7, 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/oct/07/womens-health-organisation-president-resigns-following-bullying-and-racism-investigation (accessed March 31, 2022).

Source: Germain, Adrienne. "Having Our Say: Intellectual Contributions on Sexual and Reproductive Rights and Health by the International Women’s Health Coalition, 1987-2011" Adrienne Germain Papers, Sophia Smith Collection, SSC-MS-00778, Smith College Special Collections, Northampton, Massachusetts, 2016. https://findingaids.smith.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/181883 (accessed March 31, 2022)

Source: “Women’s Declaration on Population Policies.” Development in Practice 3, no. 2 (1993): 116–21. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4028955 (accessed March 31, 2022).