Gender gaps in research funding stem from fewer women applying, study finds
Baku, February 11, AZERTAC
A study coinciding with International Day of Women and Girls in Science provides a clearer picture of gender equality in research funding and where the real barriers lie, TPS-IL reported citing the University of Haifa.
While male and female researchers enjoy similar success rates when competing for grants, researchers found that the main disparity occurs at the stage of submitting applications rather than during the review process. While the findings are based on Israeli data, similar patterns of application-stage disparities and underrepresentation are seen internationally in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
“The study shows that once women apply for grants, they have nearly the same chance of success as men,” said Dr. Aliza Forman-Rabinowicz of the University of Haifa, the study’s author. “The gaps we found are not the result of discrimination during grant review but reflect differences in who actually submits applications. Understanding this is critical — if fewer women apply, opportunities for funding, recognition, and influence in research remain uneven.”
Expanding the pool of applicants not only promotes equity but also strengthens the overall quality of research proposals, the researchers said.
Research grants are among the most important resources in academia, directly affecting the ability to conduct research, advance careers, and gain professional recognition. “Grants are not just about funding,” Forman-Rabinowicz said. “They signal prestige and influence. If women participate less in applying, structural inequality is reinforced, even if review procedures are fair.”
The Haifa University team sought to understand whether women face barriers in the evaluation of funding applications or whether the gaps emerge elsewhere in the process. They examined nearly 5,000 applications to major research foundations, including the Israel Science Foundation (ISF), the Binational Israel-US Science Foundation (BSF), the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development (GIF), and the Ministry of Science and Technology.
The study highlighted field-specific differences in application rates. In engineering, women make up 22 percent of faculty but submit only 13 percent of grant applications. In environmental sciences, female faculty represent about 42 percent, yet contribute just 20 percent of applications. By contrast, in the social sciences, female representation among applicants mirrors their faculty proportion, about 44 percent.
These patterns suggest that structural and cultural factors, such as underrepresentation, workload expectations, and field-specific norms, are the main drivers of inequality. “In areas where women are underrepresented, like some exact sciences, patterns of participation and submission reflect and even deepen existing gaps,” Forman-Rabinowicz said. “In more egalitarian fields, such as the social sciences, these gaps are almost nonexistent.”
The study also demonstrates that differences in success rates are negligible once applications are submitted. Female and male researchers are awarded funding at similar levels relative to the amounts they request, confirming that the evaluation and selection processes themselves are largely gender-neutral.
By identifying the real bottleneck — the application stage — the study points to actionable solutions: encouraging women to apply for funding in fields where they are underrepresented.
“Recognizing where the gaps actually arise is the first step toward ensuring equal opportunities for all researchers,” Forman-Rabinowicz said. “Policies and programs can now focus on supporting female researchers to take that crucial first step of submitting their applications, which is where the system itself begins to favor participation over exclusion.”
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