In this initial chapter from the breakthrough volume, Feminism and Bioethics: Beyond Reproduction, the book’s editor seeks to solve the puzzle of why bioethics has largely ignored gender and feminism, long after the rest of the humanities and law have found such work to be important. The answer, she argues, lies in the deep structure of bioethics-in its early embrace of a liberal individualism largely inattentive to social context; in its emphasis on deduction from ethical principles rather than induction from concrete cases; in its tendency to view ethical problems either dyadically as problems between individuals, or nationally as problems for the entire society, but rarely at an intermediate level attentive to the moral significance of groups; and in the failure of bioethics to be sufficiently self-critical by examining whom the field serves and how. The chapter explores the range of feminist theory with important implications for bioethics and then explicates feminist possibilities for reconstructing the work of bioethics, including by expanding the subjects of concern, shifting the field’s epistemology, and changing its analytic methods. Serious engagement with gender and feminist work will deeply alter the theory, practice, and impact of bioethics. This volume’s twelve chapters aim to catalyze that reconstruction.