Sex Cells: The Fight to Overcome Bias and Discrimination in Women’s Healthcare

Sex Cells is a clear-eyed report on the still-pitched battle to get the scientific and medical world to recognize that women are not small men.

The idea that our biological sex impacts our health seems like such a simple concept. Unfortunately, it has proven to be anything but that. Phyllis Greenberger’s battle cry has been: Women/females need to be treated equitably in relationship to men/males. They are equal, but they are not the same.

It has been challenging to get individual researchers and practitioners to accept this, as well as research and medical institutions, and manufacturers of medications and devices. The journey towards equal treatment and the understanding of sex and gender differences in prevention, diagnosis and treatment is still unfolding. This book is the story of that journey—why it was, and still is, so important to do research specific to women/females.

Sex Cells gives readers access to the wide world of sex-specific medical issues as they play out in research labs and doctor’s offices, and how women pay the price, with a close look at the impact on minority populations.

The story is told by Phyllis Greenberger—the woman who is recognized as the driving force for change over the past 25 years—and her allies in government, NGOs, academia, medical research, the US government, and public health advocacy. The array of experts who have contributed to the book offer an insiders’ up-close view of the battle to have female cells, lab animals and humans brought into medical research, so that women can receive treatment that is appropriate and effective for a wide range of conditions.

Told with humor, ferocity and passion, Sex Cells is a manifesto that will appeal to anyone interested in health, women’s rights, and public health policy.