Gender/ Sex Dimension

Science is finally starting to acknowledge the lack of diversity in many disciplines, specifically the invisibility of women in STEMM. Therefore, many grants now require applicants to clearly articulate how they have considered gender and/or sex within their projects.

When we speak about ‘sex’ we are referring to males and females based on biological and physiological differences. In comparison, ‘gender’ refers to the socially constructed groupings of men and women. Sometimes sex and gender equate, but not always, and so it’s important to consider both elements within your project where applicable.

How to Consider Sex and Gender in Your Grant

It's important to consider sex and gender from a wider viewpoint than just the study design, especially if you are applying for postdoc funding.

You can consider how sex and gender are considered specifically within the research project e.g., some projects will specifically investigate sex differences of a given treatment or intervention, some will explore women or men’s lived experiences within a certain context or situation, and other projects will have no human participants at all like studies investigating electricity or physics.

You can also consider how sex and gender will affect the research and supervision team, if there are any specific mentorship needs you need based on your gender and are there training courses you can avail of to increase your awareness of diversity, equality, and inclusion in research.

Example Considerations:

Sex/Gender neutral research

For example, a project looking at sustainable housing construction:

Is there a social impact element to the research? For example,

Are there gender differences in homelessness?
Are the statistics in the UK similar to Europe averages?
Have national policies highlighted a gender gap in the topic, and has it been prioritised as an area of action?
Are there gender differences in single-parent households?
By considering some of the above, you are showing that your project will impact society, and specifically those who are most in need.

Research with animal cells

Unless there is a large body of research to support the lack of sex difference in the topic you are studying, sex should be considered. If using mouse/rat models, you can use this section of the grant to explain the potential sex differences and how you are going to include female mice/rats within the study to explore these differences. It does not need to be the primary aim of the study but is an easy and important way to include a sex dimension to your research. You might decide to include a mechanistic hypothesis to the sex differences here, supported with previous work or literature, as well as a power calculation to report the number of females/ males that will be included in the study.

Research specifically investigating women or men

Below are some examples of things I have included in my grants. For context, I am a woman, my mentor is a woman, and my research is focused on women’s experiences in physical activity and exercise.

Providing a rationale as to why I am specifically investigating woman population (e.g., the importance of exercise specifically for women, as well as there being a lack of women in general in sport and exercise science research) and using literature to back up my arguments.
Exploring intersectionality within the data. I.e., investigating the experiences of women from different intersectional identities including single-mothers without partners, women in same-sex relationships, women living in rural and socially deprived areas, and women from underrepresented ethnic groups.
Although the research is focused on women, men are important stakeholders. Therefore, I have included information on the importance of men in study design and how their input will be sought. E.g., men clinicians, men partners, men policymakers.
I provided details on how the Athena Swan Charter would guide gender-balanced recruitment, networking, and work allocation. I also described the mentorship team and advisory board (ensuring that it was gender balanced).
I included a brief description of training opportunities I would take during the fellowship to further my EDI knowledge, including participation in women leadership programmes, collaborating with the university EDI office, and importance of women mentors who would support me in navigating family choices and work/life balance in academia.