Gender distribution of international cancer research funding.

Abstract

e21018 Background: The Lancet Commission on women, power, and cancer recommends that women have equitable access to cancer research resources, leadership, and funding opportunities. To measure implementation of this recommendation, the International Cancer Research Partnership (ICRP) reviewed the proportion of funding for oncology research allocated to female principal investigators (PIs) globally, along with funders’ knowledge and use of PI gender data related to their programs. The ICRP is a network of 174 government and non-profit cancer research funding organizations across thirteen countries. Methods: The gender of PIs reported on 120,463 cancer research projects in the ICRP database funded between 2006 - 2022 was estimated using genderize.io, a name-to-gender algorithm. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to identify differences in research projects led by male and female PIs, including stratifications by start year, funder organization country, PI country, cancer scientific outline code, cancer site, total funding amount, and career phase. An online survey of 29 multiple choice and free text questions was fielded to ICRP members with questions about whether and how they collect, report, and use gender information about their funded PIs. Results: Over 63% of funded cancer research in the ICRP database was led by a male PI, with 36% led by a female PI and the remaining 1% led by PIs reported as unknown or undisclosed gender. While there is evidence of modest growth of the percentage of female PIs over time, from 35% in 2006 to 41% in 2022, female PIs lead fewer than 50% of grants across nearly all domains of research and the dollar value of their grants is on average half that of male PIs. The gender differences are particularly stark in projects associated with later career stages and higher award amounts, suggesting differences in how male and female PIs advance in the cancer research workforce. Cancer research funders are increasingly aware of gender disparities in their funding portfolios, but most have not yet developed or implemented strategies in response. Conclusions: This study aligns with existing literature and bibliometric analyses and serves as a benchmark for future action for research funders and partners. We call on funders to collect and publicly report PI gender information of funded research projects, focus on stopping the “leaky pipeline” of female investigators in cancer research, and develop and implement strategies to increase equity in review and evaluation processes. Funding: Funded in part by NCI Contract No. 75N91019D00024.