Adopting a structural approach, this book provides a comprehensive description and analysis of the current status of women physicians in three major Western medical systems. It shows that the careers of women physicians have been shaped by the historical and organizational opportunities for education, practice, and advancement. As niches opened and barriers fell, women were quick to take advantage of the chance to study and practice in various medical fields. Medical Careers and Feminist Agendas covers sociological and feminist theory, recent history, and the structure and organization of modern medicine in the three countries from a comprehensive, cross-national perspective. The three countries serve contrapuntally as examples, respectively, of a market society, a welfare-state society, and a formerly communist society in transformation. Theoretical debates are interwoven in the book with analyses in depth of structural contingencies. The book has a dual audience. Within the academy, it will be used in courses in medical sociology, the sociology of professions, and women’s studies. Practitioners and policy makers in the field, aware of the current upsurge in women physicians’ organizing around women’s health issues, will welcome the historical analysis, current data, and sociological analysis offered in its pages