Bodily differences and collective identities: the politics of gender and race in biomedical research in the United States

Patricia Schroeder keeps a framed photo of former President Bill Clinton on the wall of her Washington, DC, office. The photo shows Clinton signing the NIH Revitalization Act of 1993, and Schroeder, who at the time served in the US House of Representatives, is one of several female members of Congress appear-ing at his side. Schroeder considers this legislation one of her most significant accomplishments – not because of its primary intent, which was to renew federal funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), but because of several para-graphs inserted into the legislation at the insistence of the Congressional Caucus on Women’s Issues. In addition to mandating an Office of Research on Women’s Health and a