Gunilla Kleiverda (1955) registered as an Obstetrician and Gynaecologist
in 1985. She is providing obstetric and gynaecologic care to a population
with a lot of social problems in the city of Almere. She is responsible
for teaching and education of medical students and gynaecologists within
the department.

In 1989 she defended her thesis: Transition to parenthood: Women’ s
experiences of labour. Characteristics associated to the choice for the
location of birth were studied and related to delivery outcomes.

Within the Dutch Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (NVOG) she
was many years responsible for patient education and edited a book for
health care providers about how to provide this education. Now she
involved in activities of the NVOG to improve quality of care.

Besides her regular work in hospital she has been involved in women’s
health care activities for many years. In the eighties she had many
contacts and was active in the movement tot promote home deliveries and
prevent unnecessary medicalization of birth. In the nineties she was
active in the support of women who experience sexual violence in the war
in former Yugoslavia.

Since 2001 Gunilla is involved in the activities of Women on Waves and
Women on Web. She sailed to Ireland, Poland, Portugal and Spain to
support local groups active in legalizing abortion. She visited Equador,
Pakistan and Uganda to provide women information about how they can
perform themselves safe illegal abortion.

In scientific and popular journals she publishes about several aspects of
women’s health care, including women’s autonomy to decide about their own
sexual and reproductive health. With regard to abortion, she invented the
slogan: ‘de vrouw beslist, de abortuspil bij de drogist’ (the woman
decides, the abortion pill free over the counter of the farmacist). For
the future, she hopes to involve midwives not only in the care for women
with a wanted pregnancy, but also in the care for women with an unwanted
pregnancy.

For her work Gunilla received several awards, among others the Aletta
Jacobsprijs of the University of Groningen, the van Walree prijs of the
Royal Dutch Society of Medicine and the Clara Wichman penning, a human
rights award of the ‘Liga voor de rechten van de mens’.