Women and Gender in Tibetan Medicine

The current issue of 'Asian Medicine' emerges from the presentations made and discussions held during the panel ‘Women and Gender in Medicine and Healing Across Asia’ at the Asian Medicine: Cultivating Traditions and the Challenges of Globalisation conference in Bhutan, September 2009 (organised by IASTAM, the International Association for Traditional Medicine in collaboration with the Institute for Traditional Medicine Services, Thimphu). The original papers given at that panel spanned topics such as female medical practitioners in the history of Korean medicine, reproduction in late imperial and contemporary China, Islamic embryology, and women and gender in Tibetan medicine. While this issue focuses on the Tibetan medical contributions alone, it draws on insights gained from the wider discussions at the panel. It also includes other articles from scholars whose research is particularly relevant to the topic. The intention of this special issue is to present current research focusing on women and gender within the field of Tibetan medical and cultural practices. It presents articles that explore social, cultural, economic and medical aspects of women’s health, as well as historical and contemporary roles and perspectives of female doctors and patients found within the medical landscape of a broadly defined Tibet. These contributions serve as points of reflection for this introductory essay, in which we review past and ongoing activities, explore analytical trajectories and innovative approaches in interdisciplinary research on women, gender and medicine in Tibet.