The health status of women is examined within the context of a global
political economy. The authors present a beginning attempt to model so
me key macrolevel processes linked to the health of women. In particul
ar, a structural modeling technique known as LVPLS (or ''soft modeling
'') is used to empirically test one recent formulation of world-system
theory. The findings give added emphasis to the importance of the lar
ger economic forces that affect women's health.