Almost 90 percent of grants awarded in the field of engineering and physical sciences over the past ten years have gone to projects led by men, and leading female scientist are calling for reform as a matter of urgency.
In 2016-17 just 7 percent of research grants went to teams led by women and, even where they are successful, they receive less money than male colleagues.
The data was obtained from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) which has responsibility for awarding funding.
According to the data only a third of review panel members, those who make the funding decisions, are women.
One female scientist said that while she had made seven applications for science grants from ESPRC, Innovate and local enterprise partnerships, none of which were successful, her father, made one proposal based on the same business case and was accepted.
Why women scientists are failing to get the funding of their male peers is frustrating and needs to be better understood.
More worrying is that a woman's appearances and her voice, when giving a presentation, were openly criticised.
Remind me, this is the 21st Century? Shouldn't we have reached a point where gender should play no part in determining whether an application for funding is suitable of not?
Until that happens,do we need to set gender targets for science funding to improve success rates for women?
