From half a million women who die in pregnancy and childbirth to one out of three women suffering domestic violence worldwide, from 90 million girls who do not go to school to HIV/AIDS spreading fastest among adolescent girls, women around the world face unique health challenges. In this searing cradle-to-grave review, Anne Firth Murray tackles health issues from sex selective abortion and unequal access to food and health care to the challenges faced by aging women. Murray makes clear that the issues are social, ethical, and political much more than they are medical, and she goes further to provide hope that positive change can happen.