ABSTRACT
Women have historically been the primary providers of health care, and women continue to be critical to the enterprise of health and healing. Within their own families, women have traditionally been the people who diagnose, treat, and refer to other health-care providers; this role has not changed substantially (Glazer 1990). In addition to this family health work, women have historically provided the bulk of community health care, as herbalists, midwives, nurses, and physicians (Ehrenreich and English 1978). This community role changed somewhat as healing became institutionalized, but women remain vital members of the health-care system.
