Beyond Biases and Barriers: Incorporating Women into International Clinical Research

Abstract

The application of ethical principles in medical research has been a challenging issue because of the multiplicity of health care systems and the variations that exist in standards of care around the globe. This paper addresses the human rights issues that arise from the unethical treatment of women in clinical research worldwide. It includes the history of international human rights legislation as well as the problems that arose because of the exclusion of women from clinical trials. This paper includes a model for ethical clinical research based on the theories of a biologist and human rights scholar and a bio-ethicist, H. Beaqueart and Sunder Rajan. Finally a case study of a large scale clinical study is used to demonstrate that international human rights legislation and feminist ethical concerns can operate alongside each other in a framework for a successful research endeavor.