ABSTRACT
This essay aims to present reflections from a larger, ongoing research project on the relationship between feminists movements and the Brazilian Sanitary Reform in the period between 1975 and 1988. It is a little-studied topic in an adverse political scenario, namely, the military dictatorship, but a period also marked by political and social effervescence. It was based on a preliminary archival research that identified events and documents that indicate dialogues between these two social movements. Engaged in the struggle for redemocratization and the democratization of health, these movements presented convergent proposals exemplified by the formulation and attempts of implementation of the Program for Integral Care for Women’s Health (Paism). The first public policy to promote integrality, one of the principles of the Unified Health System, in the Paism we find propositions defended by the Sanitary Reform Movement and linked to feminist issues in healthcare. However, that dialogue appears to have been marked by some difficulties related to the synchronization of the so-called ‘broader’ issues with ‘specific’ ones, and the challenges for the elaboration of common issues between the two movements. We recognize, therefore, the complexity of the topic. We dare to present these reflections in order to make explicit the dialogues, the successes achieved, and to contribute to the construction of renewed strategies of struggle for the right to health.
KEYWORDS:
Women; Feminism; Health policy; Right to health; Democracy