Data from Canada, Massachusetts, and Japan are combined to present a social and health profile of the menopausal woman. The paper examines the difference in perspective of the social scientist relative to the clinician or the medical epidemiologist. It also discusses the importance of a better understanding of the social context of women's lives for the further evolution of menopause research. Illustrative examples are taken from women's use of aspirin, the prescribing practices of physicians relative to hormone replacement therapy, the failure to collect occupational data in osteoporosis research, and the cost-benefit calculations to be made by women advised to take hormone replacement therapy. These examples are used as a way of showing that social data are not "frills" on the basic research of the medical scientist, but are essential to the future understanding of the menopausal experience of women.