Joan Dunlop

Joan Marie Dunlop (neé Banks, May 20, 1934 - June 29, 2012) was a British women's health advocate and activist. She was the first president of the International Women's Health Coalition (IWHC).

Biography

Dunlop was born in London to a British father and an American mother. Dunlop attended the Queen's Secretarial College in London. As a young woman, she had an illegal abortion in England, and her experience "fueled her campaign to improve women's reproductive choices."

Dunlop helped raise money for the New York Public Library and was an advisor to John D. Rockefeller III on population. She also worked in the budget office of the Mayor John V. Lindsay. While Dunlop was working for the Ford Foundation, she was told Rockefeller was interested in interviewing her for a position. During her interview with Rockefeller for the job as a population adviser, Dunlop told him the story of her abortion and later she said, "He listened with great attentiveness." Dunlop was hired by Rockefeller in 1973. She worked with Rockefeller on the Population Council where she helped expand research the council did and also promoted the idea that recognizing women's sexuality was important in population control.

Dunlop founded the International Women's Health Coalition (IWHC) in 1984. Part of her motivation in leaving a good job and taking on the task of running the IWHC was that she was "angry at the rise of the anti-abortion movement in the United States" which she considered an organizing tool for a conservative political agenda. She was a strong driving force behind the IWHC, changing what was at first a small project into a global women's health organization.

After retiring from the IWHC, she worked to put together a women's group to lobby for women's voices in United States foreign policy.

Dunlop died after a battle with cancer on June 29, 2012 in Connecticut.