Health care constitutes the largest service industry in the United States, yet there are groups and subgroups that have been historically underserved. Race, Gender, and Health explores the influence of race and gender on the health status of a diverse group of nonwhite women in the United States. In addition, the book explores structural and cultural factors that affect women's health issues. Four different groups of women are examined in close detail: African American, American Indian and Alaska Native, Asian/Pacific Islander American, and Latinas. The final chapter considers the potential impact of managed competition to adversely affect the health care services provided to women of color and encourages the development of new paradigms that will improve the delivery of health services not only for women of color but for everyone. Well written and thorough, Race, Gender, and Health is the perfect volume for students and professionals in the following fields: race, health care, gender, nursing and medicine, social work, sociology, anthropology, policy studies, public administration, caregiving, gerontology, and family studies. "Race, Gender, and Health provides cogent new insights into the impact on health status and on access to health services of skin color, gender, social class, and culture in the United States. Racism, sexism, and the current war on the poor remain potent hazards to the health in our nation. This important new book advances provocative and useful recommendations for economic, administrative and political responses to those urgent national problems. It is an invaluable contribution to our national debate, not only on the organization, governance and financing, or health services but also on our national priorities themselves." --Victor W. Sidel, M.D., Albert Einstein College of Medicine "Marcia Bayne-Smith's edited volume Race, Gender, and Health is a welcomed addition to the growing literature connecting gender, race, ethnicity, and class. Bayne-Smith has organized an important series of studies bringing together different disciplinary perspectives on the health issues of women of color. Her excellent introduction provides an historical and contemporary overview which frames the entire study. Race, Gender, and Health is a comprehensive survey that makes a thoughtful contribution to the field. --Manning Marable, Professor of History, Director, African
