Gender inequality in awarded research grants

Under-representation of women at higher levels of faculty in the biomedical sciences has long been noted.1 However, whereas differences in representation in academic sciences are clear, less is known about disparities in important indicators of research success that might partly account for such differences, such as success in obtaining funding.2, 3 and 4For instance, the equity of amounts awarded to male and female awardees has not been assessed.

We used publicly available data from grants awarded from Oct 1, 2000, to Sept 30, 2008, by a major UK biomedical funding body, the Wellcome Trust, to assess grant funding amounts awarded to women versus men. Gender was assigned to each primary recipient on the basis of name, with consensus agreement by GB and NTVD (internet searches resolved disagreements). Data were available on 10 283 awards made to 7015 individuals. We compared monetary differences by gender using ANOVA, with adjustment for rank (predoctoral, doctoral, professorial).