{"id":80937,"date":"2026-04-21T13:54:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T19:54:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/?p=80937"},"modified":"2026-04-21T13:54:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T19:54:27","slug":"calgary-symposium-pushes-for-change-in-womens-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2026\/04\/21\/calgary-symposium-pushes-for-change-in-womens-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Calgary symposium pushes for change in women’s health"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
The Women\u2019s Health and Wellness Symposium took place at the Calgary Public Library on International Women’s Day in March. (Photo by Catherine Acheson\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rebecca Bowman is determined to help remove the stigma around women’s health and hopes to inspire meaningful change for women navigating the health system.<\/p>\n

She dreams of a world where women not only feel comfortable talking about their own health, but the general public does as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of improvements that are needed in women\u2019s health education,\u201d says Bowman, vice-president of the Calgary Health Foundation. \u201cCalgary needs to improve. Alberta needs to improve. And Canada needs to improve.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Calgary Health Foundation partnered with the O’Brien Institute of Public Health, to host the Women\u2019s Health and Wellness Symposium for International Women\u2019s Day on March 7.<\/p>\n

The event, held for the second year at the Calgary Central Public Library, focused on \u00a0matters connected to women’s health.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt 8:30 a.m., there was a line up all the way to the corner of the street,\u201d Bowman said.<\/p>\n

According to the Calgary Health Foundation, three-out-of-four women will experience menopausal symptoms that interfere with their daily lives. The foundation says almost 25 per cent of women are impacted by pelvic floor disorders.<\/p>\n

Fifty-four per cent of heart attacks in women go unrecognized.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis allows women to understand that they are not alone,\u201d Bowman said of the symposium. \u201cIt also allows us to educate healthcare professionals on the importance of women\u2019s health and gives the public some understanding that this is really important.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Justine Blanchet and Michelle Pilz discuss the risks to women’s privacy and personal data on cycle-tracking apps at the Women\u2019s Health and Wellness Symposium. (Photo by Catherine Acheson\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Vendors at the event included Allegiance Against Violence and Adversity, Fear is Not Love and the Women\u2019s Centre Calgary.<\/p>\n

\n

\u2018Calgary needs to improve, Alberta needs to improve, and Canada needs to improve,\u2019 said Rebecca Bowman, of the Calgary Health Foundation<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Participants attended eight moderated sessions on topics such as pelvic floor health, piracy on apps tracking women\u2019s menstrual cycles and ADHD in women.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of job opportunities for women\u2019s health that people don\u2019t know about,” said Angie Taylor, an events specialist with the O’Brien Institute for Public Health. “It\u2019s important to be educating people at health events like this on what opportunities are out there.<\/p>\n

“That\u2019s why an event like this is really important to get people interested in the topic.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rebecca Bowman is determined to help remove the stigma around women’s health and hopes to inspire meaningful change for women navigating the health system. She dreams of a world where women not only feel comfortable [ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":992,"featured_media":80961,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-80937","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-city"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/992"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80937"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80937\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80956,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80937\/revisions\/80956"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}