ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part discusses how many policies in the United States have been based on the male model and how most approaches to issues of gender and justice focus on formal equality or women’s differences. Health care offers a unique opportunity for the application of a theory of gender justice for many reasons. Regarding many social issues, it is sometimes difficult to discern if men and women have different needs, but regarding many health care issues, men and women clearly have different biologically-based needs: females live longer and thus need not only different health care but also more health care. Medical research is a particularly potent issue to analyze because, until recently, women were systematically excluded from much research.
