Paging through intelligence reports just weeks after she was sworn in as vice president, Kamala Harris was struck by the way two female foreign leaders were described. The reports used adjectives that, in her view, were rarely used to describe male leaders.

Ms. Harris, the first woman to hold her office, ordered up a review that scrutinized multiple years of briefing reports from various intelligence agencies, looking for possible gender bias.

The study found some questionable word choices but no widespread pattern, according to a senior intelligence official, one of five who requested anonymity to discuss the review. (None would disclose the words flagged by Ms. Harris because the reports were classified.)

Still, the exercise had an impact: Intelligence officials added a new training class for analysts on how to judge and assess female foreign leaders, according to another official.

The episode proved to be a preview of Ms. Harris’s priorities. The vice president put questions about gender and race at the center of many of the policy discussions in her office, aides and former administration officials said. Throughout her career, she pushed for policies aimed at systemic disparities and often used her bully pulpit to speak about what she saw as injustices.

While Ms. Harris’s allies describe this as a defining feature of her vice presidency — one that separates her from her predecessors, including Democrats — she is not running on this part of her record.