Gender medicine is a new branch of medicine that studies and promotes a gender-sensitive approach to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases in females and males. Gender medicine has its ideological origins in the women’s health movement of the second wave of feminism, and its foundation is the inclusion of females in clinical studies, the collection of gender-specific data, and ensuring the safety of medicines. The thalidomide disaster had a significant impact on the exclusion of women of childbearing age from clinical trials. In the USSR and later in the Russian Federation, there was never a direct request for gender medicine, nor was there a ban on women’s participation in clinical trials of drugs. At the same time, there were no conditions for testing new drugs on women, and there was no gender approach in healthcare in general. As a result, women were not satisfied with the level of provided medical care. Evidence from various socially significant areas of medicine leaves no doubt that there is a need for a gender-specific approach in medicine worldwide and in Russia.