The scope of women's health research is vast. Within the discipline of nursing, the scope of women's health research includes health variables studied within social and biophysical health contexts and as they are shaped by developmental stages. The unit of analysis in these studies is the woman, whether she is studied as an individual or as part of a population of women. Similar application of this framework, which is intended to chart the boundaries within which systematic study of women's health can occur, may suggest areas in which there is currently a deficit of empirical and theoretical work and may prompt nurse investigators to explore new questions.