What is Gender-Specific Medicine?
Gender-Specific Medicine is the science of how normal human biology differs between men and women and of how the diagnosis and treatment of disease differs as a function of gender. 

On December 1, 2006 the Governor's Women's Health Advisory Council reported that women’s health is a sex- and gender-informed practice, grounded in an interdisciplinary sex- and gender-informed bio-psycho-social science, focusing on care of the whole woman in the diverse contexts of her life experiences.

The foundation of women’s health is sex- and gender-based biology, the field of scientific
inquiry committed to identifying the biological and physiological differences between men and women. “Sex refers to the classification of living things, generally as male or female, according to their reproductive organs and functions assigned by chromosomal complement (genotype). Gender refers to a person’s self-representation as male or female, or how that person is responded to by social institutions based on the individual’s gender presentation. Gender is rooted in biology and shaped by environment and experience” (IOM
report, Exploring the Biologic Contributions to Human Health: Does Sex Matter? 2001). In other words, sex is biologically rooted in one’s DNA/chromosomes and gender is related to the social roles of men and women. Both biology and social roles have profound effects on health.

Women's health issues are defined in the context of women's lives, including their multiple social roles and the importance of relationships with other people in their lives. The definition of women's health encompasses physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health and spans the life course of multiple generations. Current medical practice is based on research done largely on men and extrapolated to women. Using this information to diagnose and treat women is as inaccurate as diagnosing and treating children based on adult norms for height, weight, hormonal levels, body shape, emotional state and social roles.

Health care delivery systems for women are fragmented, separating reproductive health from mental/emotional health and the rest of a woman’s body. Historically, an entire system of health care for women was created based on reproductive health. This made sense a century ago when the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in women was due to child birth. In contrast, the leading causes of morbidity and mortality of 21st century women in the United States are chronic diseases. Multiple specialties have emerged to diagnose and treat chronic diseases, but these specialties are not sex- and gender-specific. Given the historically limited focus on reproductive health and a male centric health care system, there is a current need to create a health care delivery system that addresses and is respectful of the unique aspects of women and girls.

While we know that gender and sex provide one set of barriers for women obtaining health
services, research shows that women’s ethnicity/race also has a tremendous impact on the access to and quality of health care that women of color and their families receive. Our current health care system has institutionalized systems that adversely affects health outcomes. A person’s social role is based on gender (being male or female), skin color (race/ethnicity), and/or income (poverty and level of education), all of which affect health in many ways, including diet, living conditions, occupations, access to health services, trust of health care systems, communication with medical providers and the effects of stress associated with these. These external influences on the individual dramatically affect the health of individuals and entire populations of people.

For more information on Gender-Specific Medicine:
Governor's Women's Health Advisory Council Report
http://partnership.hs.columbia.edu/
http://sexandgendercourse.od.nih.gov
Gender-Specific Medicine Facts
Differences between women and men