We know that overwhelming amounts of evidence currently exist and that evidence is continually changing, and is often confusing and conflicting. Research must be conducted using methodologies that are appropriate to gender and culture. Research designs should be appropriate to population groups, ensure privacy of the participants and provide information that benefits society at large. Synthesis of existing information which addresses women's health issues has to be a priority for the research agenda. Women earn less.
Women predominantly inhabit lower levels of the occupational hierarchy.
And women tend to have less control over their work situation. There are not enough female researchers to promote women's health, nor are there enough women enrolled in clinical trials and other research initiatives to define risks and benefits of interventions, technologies and drug therapies for women. Women must be assured that interventions applied to them are appropriate and effective. Public policies, similarly, have a different impact on women and men. For example, if we shift from institutional care to community-based services without increasing public funding for these services, we have to recognize that we are also shifting additional responsibility to women who are the primary care givers in most families.