Federal Women’s Health Study

In response to “U.S. Plans $500-Million Women’s Health Study” (front page, April 20):

It was wonderful news to find out that our government is finally making a serious effort to right the imbalance of medical research. By earmarking research money on behalf of the “other half” of our citizenry, we may indeed be on our way toward reaching this country’s great potential. That the study will be sensitive to all racial and socioeconomic groups is also commendable.

One note before we rewrite history, though: Dr. Bernadine Healy’s (director of the National Institutes of Health) posit that the timing of such a study was hampered by the “unfortunate side effect” of the feminist movement of the 1970s and 1980s was, to my relatively simple understanding of the movement, 180 degrees off. She confused “equality” with “sameness.” She seems to have overlooked how the feminist movement might have helped her get where she is in this particular field today, and she overlooked the possibility that this movement may have helped change enough viewpoints to receive the necessary congressional backing for the study. She also denied the fact that the feminist movement might actually have helped to point out this existing inequality in the first place. Let’s not construct a scapegoat.

In any event, hooray for the study! It’s about time.

LISA SCHOYER, Pasadena