ABSTRACT

This chapter explores issue of medical research, gender, and justice. Women have been excluded from medical research since the late 1960s and early 1970s. In 1981, women’s underrepresentation in drug trials and the problems associated with such exclusion were documented. The article noted how the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) policies of excluding women “of childbearing potential” in early drug trial testing also led to their exclusion in later testing phases. In 1992, at the urging of women’s health advocates, Congress asked the General Accounting Office to investigate the FDA and the inclusion of women in drug and medical device research. The National Institutes of Health funds medical research; as with any grant process, researchers submit detailed proposals that are reviewed and deemed fundable or not fundable, as judged by various criteria. The FDA offers no counterpart regarding the recognition of women’s experiences.