Women and their Bodies (WTB) is a non-profit organization that works to promote the health and well-being of women and girls in Israel, as well as their rights in health care.
Women and their Bodies
WTB was established in 2005 by women, and for women and girls, to generate social action for change and to raise awareness on a wide variety of women’s health issues. We believe that women need to have full control over their bodies, and decisions that affect their health and well-being, and that in order to do so, they need to have access to information regarding issues specific to women’s health.
WTB works to reduce the gaps and create social change through field work with women and girls all over Israel and through the provision of reliable and accessible information to women and girls of all ages, throughout the life cycle.Our work combines aspects from the fields of health and sexuality alongside gender empowerment, while promoting an overall holistic approach to health, thereby focusing on quality of life, uniqueness and strengths and not just on disease prevention and pathology. WTB produces cultural and linguistic adaptation of our work and materials for different population groups, in Hebrew, Arabic, Russian and Amharic.
2023 Achievements
women have used our resources since the beginning of the war
women utilise our resources on our website
women took part in our workshops and seminars
of participants recommend our programs
of our programs serve disenfranchised communities
The Challenge:
The Need for Gender Equality in Healthcare
The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report for 2021 ranked Israel 121 out of 156 countries for the health and survival gender gap. When women are not offered comparable quality care for the same medical complaints as their male counterparts, or when different manifestations of disease are not diagnosed and treated based on differences in sex, the consequences can be dire. For women and girls, this means disproportionate suffering from conditions like fibromyalgia and auto-immune diseases that typically affect women, unequal access to healthcare, and worse health outcomes. While gender-based medicine is progressing, much work remains to be done.
Core Issues:
WTB ensures that women’s and girls’ voices are represented in the healthcare system by addressing core issues in gender-based medicine such as:
- Chronic pain and conditions such as fibromyalgia, endometriosis, migraines, etc., which affect women disproportionately and do not receive adequate research or awareness
- Conditions that present differently in women such as heart disease, strokes, and cancers
- Issues regarding body image, sexuality, childbirth, trauma in childbirth, abortion, menopause, prevention of gender-based violence and more
- Issues related to elderly women and adolescent girls, non-child bearing ages that are less widely researched or viewed from a gender perspective
Our Activities
Our work is focused on raising awareness on the health and well-being of women and girls, by creating and publishing informational materials in print, digital format and through social media channels, as well as through educational workshops and seminars. In the process, WTB collects comprehensive nationwide data directly from the field regarding pressing issues and needs, and works to create policy change by publishing this data and presenting it to governmental decision-makers and relevant bodies.
Centers of Expertise
WTB runs three Centers of Expertise, each of which centralize a comprehensive and integrative body of knowledge, including women's personal experiences and professional data, on a range of women's issues which do not receive adequate attention in Israeli society or the healthcare system.
חדשות ועידכונים
