III 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 637 

Expressing support for viewing women’s health as a critical issue for the 

economy and workforce of the United States and for advancing the 

health and well-being of all people. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 17, 2022 

Ms. DUCKWORTH (for herself, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. BROWN, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, 

Mr. KING, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Ms. WARREN, Mr. DURBIN, Ms. STABENOW, 

Mr. LUJA ́N, and Ms. ROSEN) submitted the following resolution; which 

was referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing support for viewing women’s health as a critical 

issue for the economy and workforce of the United States 

and for advancing the health and well-being of all people. 

Whereas women constitute 50.8 percent of United States citizens and nearly 1⁄2 of the workforce in the United States; 

Whereas women control 60 percent of personal wealth and 

are responsible for 85 percent of consumer spending and 

80 percent of health care decisions; 

Whereas, across races, ethnicities, socioeconomic statuses, 

disability statuses, and age groups— 

(1) women experience many diseases and disorders 

differently than men; 


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•SRES 637 IS 

(2) the incidence, prevalence, symptomology, and severity of disease may differ between men and women; 

(3) women vary in the risks of certain diseases and 

the benefits of medical therapies; and 

(4) for many years, women were underrepresented in 

biomedical and clinical research; 

Whereas longer life spans of women require the need for research on the health of older women; 

Whereas women and men have fundamental biological differences at the cellular level; 

Whereas 2⁄3 of patients with Alzheimer’s disease are women; 

Whereas heart disease is the leading cause of death in 

women, and women are 50 percent more likely to die the 

year following a heart attack than men; 

Whereas 80 percent of patients with autoimmune diseases are 

women; 

Whereas women have more stroke events and are less likely 

to recover from such events than men; 

Whereas there are significant sex and age differences between 

men and women with respect to drug administration and 

dosage; 

Whereas older women are more prone to having multiple 

medical problems and, as a result, may be taking incorrectly prescribed medications due to lack of information 

on gender and age differences; 

Whereas, on January 25, 2016, the National Institutes of 

Health implemented a policy requiring federally funded 

investigators to consider sex as a biological variable in 

preclinical research; 


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•SRES 637 IS 

Whereas such policy has improved inclusivity in women’s 

health research, but disparities still remain; 

Whereas the 2021 report entitled ‘‘The Case to Fund Women’s Health Research: An Economic and Societal Impact 

Analysis’’, published by Women’s Health Access Matters 

(commonly known as the ‘‘WHAM Report’’), states that 

in 2019, of the funding provided by the National Institutes of Health, 12 percent of the funding for Alzheimer’s research, 4.5 percent of the funding for coronary artery disease research, and 7 percent of the funding for rheumatoid arthritis research focused on women; 

Whereas this research gap has had economic consequences, 

including— 

(1) pushing women out of the workforce to care for 

their own health or to act as caregivers; and 

(2) contributing to increased costs of health care because of delays in care; 

Whereas the improvement of women’s health relies on sexand gender-based biomedical and clinical research; 

Whereas the promise of personalized medicine cannot be realized without sex- and gender-based parity in research; 

Whereas the WHAM Report states that small investments in 

women’s health research will bring larger returns to the 

economy and add productive years to the workforce of 

the United States; and 

Whereas the WHAM Report shows that doubling current 

funding focused on women across Alzheimer’s disease, 

coronary artery disease, and rheumatoid arthritis is a 

$300,000,000 investment that would return over 

$13,000,000,000 to the economy of the United States: 

Now, therefore, be it 


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•SRES 637 IS 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) expresses support for viewing women’s 

3 health as a critical issue for the economy and work4 force of the United States and for advancing the 

5 health and well-being of all people; and 

6 (2) supports efforts— 

7 (A) to increase health research focused on 

8 women, particularly for diseases that differen9 tially and disproportionately affect women; 

10 (B) to double the current share of women’s 

11 research focused on Alzheimer’s disease (12 

12 percent), coronary artery disease (4.5 percent), 

13 and rheumatoid arthritis (7 percent), which the 

14 2021 report entitled ‘‘The Case to Fund Wom15 en’s Health Research: An Economic and Soci16 etal Impact Analysis’’, published by Women’s 

17 Health Access Matters shows is a $300,000,000 

18 investment that will yield $13,000,000,000 in 

19 economic returns; 

20 (C) to increase awareness of the value of 

21 sex- and gender-based biomedical research, in22 cluding the benefits to the economy and work23 force of the United States of accelerating health 

24 research focused on women; and 


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•SRES 637 IS 

1 (D) to encourage individuals, including re2 searchers, doctors, and patients, to advocate for 

3 sex- and gender-inclusive research across races, 

4 ethnicities, socioeconomic statuses, disabilities, 

5 and age groups. 

Æ 


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