@EPSRC has finally released a long-awaited report 'Understanding our portfolio: a gender perspective'

https://epsrc.ukri.org/files/aboutus/epsrcunderstandingourportfolio-agenderperspectivereport/

We've been waiting for this, for a long time. I want to think I made a small contribution to this

What are the findings? (1/)

In a nutshell

But let's look at some numbers (2/)

There is finally recognition that, although success rates are similar, award values are less.

In many cases, much less (3/)

The discrepancy is very large, in some cases (4/)

Look at these numbers: Men get more value (£££) for the same amount of work, than women. By number, success rates look similar and *yet* men get awarded A LOT MORE p/single application than women.

This is the difference that makes or destroys careers (5/)

Evidence of the 'Big Grants Club'. Look at the data and judge by yourself: For applications up to £1.5 M things don't look too bad but what happens just after: the discrepancy is *huge*. Why? Is it because women write bad applications? Do they like to work the same for less? (6/)

Now, look at page 8 of the report :
"women [...] consistently apply for smaller value grants"
"[women] appear to be less likely to be awarded [large] grants" (7/)

It actually says, on page 9:
"Over the period, men apply for on average £95K per grant more than women."
-And by the look of things, they get them- (8/)

The bit in blue here is something that I, personally, don't quite understand: Men get more value for their research (in equipment) but women pay more overheads? (9/)

These are the key findings: it is finally acknowledged that women get less £££ for their effort. I'll let you read the rest (10/)

I think it is very important that @EPSRC has finally presented this analysis to the research community. It confirms what many of us knew: there seems to be structural bias in the system and women get less money for the same amount of work (11/)

We can now start a dialogue and we can try to think of solutions to address this issue. It is definitely a step in the right direction, and a welcome development. We've been requesting this for a long time and I'd like to thank @tigerinstemm for their efforts on this (12/12)