Please join us for the first event in our 2022/23 Centre for Ethics in Medicine seminar series. This paper seeks to address the impacts of gender on a person’s ability to exercise their autonomy within clinical practice, by drawing on feminist approaches to bioethics and theories concerning gender equity and social constructionism. This abstract will set the background for the paper, which will assert that owing to economic, social and cultural factors, women face greater difficulties when attempting to exercise their autonomy in clinical practice. In terms of healthcare, equity is a central issue which represents connections between poverty, disadvantage, oppression and poor health. The female gender represents a risk factor for increased inequity, the implications of gender discrimination and poverty directly impact the ill health of women. These correlations occur throughout a woman’s life cycle from; female infanticide, inadequate food and medical care, physical abuse, genital mutilation, forced sex and early childbirth. Further still, limits exist which make it harder to conquer and eradicate the problems caused by gender inequity. Work is often split into two categories, domestic labour and manual labour. Manual labour relates to work that is performed outside of the home which generates an income. Domestic labour is work which is done within the household, such as childcare, food preparation and cleaning. Generally, men are much more likely to participate in manual labour than women and productive work usually brings greater autonomy and decision-making power. This discussion has begun to illustrate how societal, cultural and financial factors can greatly impede upon a woman’s ability to act autonomously. The paper will build upon this narrative to explicitly show such factors are particularly relevant in terms of health care and medical decisions. For example, how financial restraints can physically impede upon a woman’s ability to ask for help in relation to medical treatment; how gender stereotypes can impact upon a woman once she has sought medical advice and how the treatment then offered does not necessarily align with the wishes of the female patient. The conclusion of this paper will assert that gender presents a barrier to the dialogue of autonomy in clinical practice.