Biden to sign executive order meant to advance study of women's health

Women make up half of the population in the U.S., but their health is both underfunded and understudied.

President Joe Biden is expected to sign an executive order Monday aimed at advancing the study of women's health in part by strengthening data collection and providing easier and better funding opportunities for biomedical research.

Women make up half the population, but their health is underfunded and understudied. It wasn't until the 1990s that the federal government mandated women be included in federally funded medical research; for most of medical history, though, scientific study was based almost entirely on men.

Today, research often fails to properly track differences between women and men, and does not represent women equally particularly for illnesses more common to them. President Biden's executive order is aiming to change that, aides said.

"We still know too little about how to effectively prevent, diagnose and treat a wide array of health conditions in women," said Dr. Carolyn Mazure, the head of the White House initiative on women's health.

President Biden said he's long been a believer in the "power of research" to help save lives and get high-quality health care to the people who need it. But the executive order also checks off a political box, too, during an election year when women will be crucial to his reelection efforts. First lady Jill Biden is leading both the effort to organize and mobilize female voters and the White House Initiative on Women's Health Research.