RISHI SPOTLIGHT: Cora Palomar’s Dedication to Championing Women’s Health
I was a sophomore in high school when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
Like many girls, I felt more alone with my thoughts and more insecure about my body. Hours on social media and time by myself filled my head with thoughts I had never had before: I wasn’t smart enough, pretty enough, or capable enough to do the things I wanted to do. Upon returning to high school as a junior, I started swimming, debating, and engaging with friends again. However, distancing precautions still made me feel far from the people around me. I noticed larger changes too: girls spoke less in class than boys, and in order to access school-provided menstrual products, you had to announce your reason for going to the nurse, often in front of the whole class.
I desperately wanted to feel like myself again, and the women around me gave me an idea.
At the start of my junior year, I created a club called Chicas for Change, which was centered around female empowerment, women’s rights, and gender justice. My intention was to facilitate a small, supportive space that discussed women’s issues and raised awareness for gender inequality. Heartfelt discussions on body image, social pressures, domestic violence, and menstrual equity made me feel seen and heard again. As a young woman, I found my confidence and discovered a true passion for women’s health advocacy and education.
Like many students, my freshman year of college was hard. I struggled to find community and take classes that truly aligned with my passions. In searching for ways to rediscover the joy I had felt through Chicas for Change, I stumbled upon the Alliance for Citizenship Engagement (ACE). ACE is a nonpartisan think tank organization that strives to educate youth voters through the publication of comprehensive yet digestible policy briefs. I began interning as a Research Fellow for the Public Health & Criminal Justice Policy Team in January 2023.
During my first semester with ACE, I wrote a policy brief on the Menstrual Equity for All Act of 2021. I chose the act because of my own experiences with poor menstrual product distribution in high school. In conducting research, I discovered that even states that have passed the bill still fail to meet the needs of the women they intended to serve. For example, the brief outlines that all public schools, prisons, immigration detention centers, and businesses of over 150 employees must provide free menstrual products. However, the language surrounding the how, where, what, and when of menstrual product distribution and funding was faulty at best. Therefore, even states that have passed the bill experience massive inequities in the availability of menstrual supplies by school district, prison system, and place of employment. Girls are still skipping school due to the fact that they can’t afford supplies. Imprisoned women are still getting serious infections from unsafe menstrual product alternatives.
How can legislation meant to support all women fail to support most?
After my first semester with ACE, I was honored to accept a promotion as a Research Associate for the Public Health & Criminal Justice team. As a Research Associate, I continued to conduct my own research, while also supervising and editing the policy briefs of talented Research Fellows. Fellows are undergraduate or graduate students who join ACE from across the country under the collective mission of spreading nonpartisan information in an increasingly polarized political climate. My favorite part of being a Research Associate was leading weekly team meetings and office hours, during which we connected about upcoming deadlines, research progress, and most importantly, our passion for the topics that we were studying. Interns on my team researched everything from marijuana legalization to abortion laws, and I was lucky enough to play a part in their investigations and publications. I will always be grateful to the Research Fellows I met each semester for teaching me just how wide the field of public health truly is.
As a Research Associate, I continued to conduct my own research as well. During my first semester in the position, I wrote a brief on the Access to Infertility Treatment and Care Act, which pulled me into the sphere of maternal health for the first time. Generally, the Access to Infertility Treatment & Care Act aims to extend insurance coverage to include expensive infertility and fertility preservation services. As I dug deeper into the social, financial, and political intricacies of the act, I found myself completely fascinated by the many facets of safe, accessible, and affordable maternal healthcare. Same-sex families, older women, and women who underwent cancer treatment, among many others, incur tens of thousands of dollars in debt in the pursuit of infertility treatment services. While infertility is undoubtedly an issue for men as well, I believe that it holds a special place in the hearts of many women. For generations, society has told girls that having children is fundamental to their womanhood. Challenges in building a family can have detrimental effects on women, which are further exacerbated by poor insurance policies, financial instability, and societal expectations. While we must create a world in which women are free to choose whether or not to have children, we must also create stronger maternal healthcare and policy for those who want children and struggle in their journey toward motherhood.
After working with ACE for a year and a half, I completed my internship in August of 2024. I will always be grateful to ACE for giving me the opportunity to grow my inkling of an interest in women’s health into a beautiful, empowering, infuriating, and unprecedented pathway toward a career in global health. I also thank ACE for leading me to work with Georgetown Project RISHI. After gaining invaluable experience in the investigation of maternal and menstrual health issues in the United States, I was eager to look at women’s health internationally. Project RISHI’s menstrual education, provision of sustainable period products, and initiatives for female empowerment have had an immense impact on young women in Rajasthan, India. I was immediately captivated by Project RISHI’s work and am incredibly excited to be a part of the Project RISHI Initiatives Team this semester. Chicas for Change, ACE, and Project RISHI give me immense hope for the future of better healthcare, policy, and equality for women.
Women everywhere deserve more than just a world that allows us to survive.
We deserve policy, legislation, and healthcare systems determined to help us thrive.
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