Gender differences in Australian research grant awards, applications, amounts, and workforce participation

We modelled two decades (2000-20) of Australian national competitive grants according to lead investigator gender. We also explored whether gender differences in awarded grants mirrored application rates and/or research workforce participation by gender. We found that fewer awarded grants were led by women than men; however, overall success rates of grant applications did not vary according to lead investigator gender. There were fewer women than men in the research workforce. The award rate (awarded grants relative to workforce participation) was slightly higher for women than men. Most of these observed gender differences were largest at senior-career levels. Together, these patterns imply that fewer women in the research workforce and leading grant applications have resulted in fewer awarded grants led by women than by men. We offer public policy measures to address women's retention and progression in the research workforce.