We, the research team at the Office of the Australian Government’s Women in STEM Ambassador, deployed a statistical model that enabled us to detect nuanced patterns by simultaneously considering not only gender, but also career seniority, field of research and time. This research is currently available as a preprint ahead of peer review.
Echoing findings of the international study, our modelling revealed fewer awarded grants were led by women than men. However, we also found that career seniority mattered – increasingly fewer women researchers received grants at a senior level. The percentage of grants led by women was 39% among early-career, 33% among mid-career, and 26% among senior-career researchers.
We also found that gender differences in awarded grants varied by field of research. Proportionally fewer awarded grants were led by women in the fields of chemical sciences, mathematical sciences, Earth sciences, technology, engineering and physical sciences.
We documented progress towards gender parity over the 20-year period, and the rate of progress depended on career seniority. The percentage of awarded grants led by senior-career women increased by 11% in the span of 20 years, reaching 31% in 2020. The increase was 8% for mid-career and 4% for early-career women researchers.