The status of women cognitive scientists in Canada: Insights from publicly available NSERC funding data

Abstract

A crucial question within science and academia, and cognitive science specifically, is whether there is gender disparity in opportunity and advancement over the professional life span (e.g., Ceci, Ginther, Kahn, & Williams, 2014; Geraci, Balsis, & Busch, 2015; Valian, 1998). To investigate this question, we analyzed gender distributions in publicly available federal funding data from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada that are specific to cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience. There were three key results. First, the proportion of women cognitive scientists progressively diminished at each career stage, particularly at the transition between graduate and postdoctoral studies. Second, female principal investigators (PI) received smaller average Discovery Grant amounts and were less likely to receive Discovery Accelerator Supplements as a proportion of all Discovery Grants funded. Finally, at the PI level, gender differences were relatively smaller for institution-initiated grants (i.e., Canada Research Chairs) versus investigator-initiated grants (i.e., Discovery Grants). It is our hope that presentation of such data, in concert with other recent reports for our field (e.g., Klatzky, Holt, & Behrmann, 2015; Peelle, 2016; Vaid & Geraci, 2016), continues to raise awareness that gender parity issues remain a concern that deserves ongoing attention within the field of cognitive science in Canada. (PsycINFO Database Record