Gender disparity among ophthalmologists awarded Canadian institute of health research grants

ABSTRACT

Despite efforts toward equity, diversity, and inclusion in academic ophthalmology faculties, gender disparity continues to exist. Current evidence indicates that female ophthalmologists consistently hold lower academic ranks and receive less funding from the National Institutes of Health compared to their male colleagues. The extent of this disparity is unknown in the Canadian context. We sought to characterize the gender gap in Canadian Institutes of Health Research funding among ophthalmologists. From inception, funding decision data were collected from the official Canadian Institutes of Health Research website database hosted by the Government of Canada. Measures including gender, number of grants held over the study period, number of simultaneous grants, and total funding were collected. Female ophthalmologists were consistently awarded fewer grants (21.43 percent) compared to male counterparts and were less likely to hold multiple grants since 2008. An over five-fold disparity was found in total funding for female compared to male ophthalmologists. As well, females were less likely than males to hold a grant in each particular year except in 2020. Female ophthalmologists continue to face barriers to attaining academic support from Canadian Institute of Health Research funds. Continued action to mitigate this gender gap may improve gender-based parity in federal research funding.

KEYWORDS:

• CIHR
• equity
• funding
• gender
• ophthalmology

Disclosure statement

This research received no direct grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. Dr. Khosa is the recipient of American College of Radiology – Global Humanitarian Award (2021) and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada McLaughlin-Gallie Visiting Professor (2021) and the BC Achievement Foundation – Mitchell Award of Distinction (2022). The other authors declare no potential conflicts of interest.

Statement of ethics

No institutional review was required as all data was extracted from commonly accessible resources. An exemption was granted by the ethics committee in accordance with Article 2.2 of the Tri-Council Policy Statement 2 (2018) of the Government of Canada as all data was collected from publicly available databases (e.g. information provided on university websites), and dissemination of results will not generate new forms of identifiable information.

Additional information

Funding

The authors reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.