Researcher gender stats requested

Three members of the US House of Representatives have called on the heads of NASA and the Departments of Energy and Defense to begin tracking their grantees’ gender in order to determine whether sex discrimination is occurring in the distribution of federal research funding. The three other largest grant-making agencies—the National Institutes of Health, NSF, and the Department of Agriculture—already routinely collect such data. Three members of the US House of Representatives have called on the heads of NASA and the Departments of Energy and Defense to begin tracking their grantees’ gender in order to determine whether sex discrimination is occurring in the distribution of federal research funding. The three other largest grant-making agencies—the National Institutes of Health, NSF, and the Department of Agriculture—already routinely collect such data.

Pointing to the results of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report they commissioned, Representatives Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), and Louise Slaughter (D-NY) urged NASA, DOE, and DOD to begin compiling the statistics. They noted that in fiscal year 2014 the three agencies collectively disbursed well over $3 billion in grants to researchers at colleges and universities. All told, the six agencies included in the GAO review account for 90% of all federal funding for research grants.

At NIH, female principal investigators (PIs) received 29% of research grants in 2014, agency data show. In an annual report for FY 2012 (the most recent available), NSF said that female PIs submitted 10 795 proposals and were awarded 2775 grants, for a success rate of 26%. Male PIs submitted 39 932 proposals and were awarded 7816 grants, for a success rate of 24%. The figures are based on self-reporting from NSF grant applicants; around 90% of proposals submitted included gender information.