THE POLITICS OF WOMENS HEALTH

This article begins by discussing the recent emergence in the United S tates of women's health as a major public policy issue. The central qu estion posed in the article is, How can the public's and government's interest in women's health be used to maximize health benefits for all women? Two arenas of women's health, childbearing and heart disease, are explored to further our understand of the possible costs and benef its to women of being a priority within the national public policy age nda. Three factors are proposed as crucial for maximizing women's heal th benefits within the current health policy climate: (a) broadening t he definition of health benefits, (b) involving more women in the proc ess of determining the hierarchy of health needs, and (c) involving mo re women in both the research and clinical aspects of medicine.