What is `women's health', and what are the issues of women's health beyond the obstetric and the gynaecological? This wide-ranging book - the first volume in the new Behaviour and Health series - surveys the social and cultural influences on women, focusing on the ways these impact on their health. It looks at the social construction of gender and, from a psychological point of view, the unique aspects of women's health which are affected by social roles, and not just biology. Women's Health is organized around restrictive social myths about women: women at the mercy of their hormones; the myth of the maternal instinct; the assumption that it is `natural' for women to carry out the majority of unpaid domestic labour and family care; and women as stereotypes conforming to images of youth, beauty and sexual availability to men. Drawing on research from a wide range of countries, non-western perspectives are included wherever possible. Each chapter includes a review of the psychological literature and relates it to feminist perspectives. This book is essential reading for students and academic psychologists working in the area of women's health. It will also be of interest to students of sociology, social work and women's studies.