New Connections: Towards a Gender-Inclusive Approach to Women's and Men's Health

The recognition within sociology that gender is not simply the provinceof women, but that men ‘have gender too’ has kindled a more gender-inclusive approach to the relationship between gender and health.‘Gender and health’, which until very recently was tantamount to a dis-cussion of women’s health, now not only extends to men, but holds outthe potential for a comprehensive appreciation of the social relations ofgender as they impact upon health in different societies. However, thishas yet to be realized. The current collection of articles aims to stimulatethe further development of this research agenda through a particularfocus on the sociological analysis of experienced health needs and theavailability and use of health services to meet these needs.The collection brings together papers presented in two sessions – oneon women’s health, another on men’s health – in the programme of ISAResearch Committee 15, Sociology of Health, at the World Congress ofSociology, in Durban in 2006. The sessions were prompted by two analyt-ical observations of the state of the art on gender and health.First, there currently is a curious absence of new theorizing and method-ological innovation in sociological research on women’s health, a situationthatseemsalmostparadoxicalafter30yearsofspearheadingtheoreticalandmethodologicaladvanceswithinwomen’sstudiesandthesociologyofgen-der. This is exemplified in the repetition of existing findings and theoreticalargumentsintheresearchonwomen’shealthoverthepastfiveyears.