2006/07/26 by Marcia C. Inhorn · 1 citation
Medicine · Health Professions · Psychology · Mathematics · #Sex and Gender in Healthcare #Reproductive Health and Contraception #Obesity and Health Practices #Dozen #Ethnography #Sociology #Psychology #Gender studies #Anthropology #Arithmetic #Mathematics
paper · doi:10.1525/maq.2006.20.3.345
openalex publication_date 2006/07/26 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
Although the women's health research agenda has been largely defined by Western biomedicine and public health, anthropology has much to offer in terms of defining and understanding women's health from the perspective of women themselves. Through the in-depth qualitative tradition of ethnography, anthropologists have documented women's health concerns around the globe, producing a large and constantly expanding literature that is rich and provocative. This article summarizes a dozen major messages about women's health that emerge from the ethnographic literature, now consisting of more than 150 volumes. These volumes are listed in the article, and some primary examples are described as representative of anthropology's contribution to knowledge production in women's health.