RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as paclitaxel, carboplatin, and ifosfamide, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. It is not yet known whether paclitaxel is more effective when given together with carboplatin or ifosfamide in treating patients with uterine or ovarian cancer.

PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is studying giving paclitaxel together with carboplatin to see how well it works compared with giving paclitaxel together with ifosfamide in treating patients with newly diagnosed persistent or recurrent uterine or ovarian cancer.