The issues of equity, equal opportunities, gender, and organization performance in the health care sector worldwide was examined. Information was gathered from the available literature and from individuals in 17 countries. The analysis highlighted the facts that employment equity debates and policies refer largely to high-income countries and that, even in those countries, there is more rhetorical commitment than evidence of successful outcomes. Evaluations have been mainly post hoc, and many initiatives have not been evaluated at all. The most noticeable trend seemed to be away from reliance on targeting by numbers and toward more comprehensive approaches across a range of interorganizational and intraorganizational interventions and over an employee's whole career. Seven crucial knowledge gaps between current practice and the evidence were identified. (The bibliography lists 39 references. The following items are appended: a discussion of issues in managing an equal opportunities policy in devolved settings; national equalities indicators for the United Kingdom National Health Service (UK NHS); a new career framework for nurses, midwives, and health visitors for the UK NHS; information on male and female nurses' remuneration and the percentages of women in different categories of health service jobs; a 14-item annotated bibliography; an annotated list of 7 useful tools; and a list of individuals and organizations contacted.) (MN)