Effects of caregiving-disruption disclosures on grant review outcomes

Determine how grant peer reviewers evaluate applicants’ disclosures of career disruptions due to caregiving responsibilities and assess whether these disclosures reduce inequities in funding outcomes or instead exacerbate them.

Background

Many funders allow applicants to explain how caring responsibilities disrupted their productivity, aiming to mitigate disadvantages, particularly for women who often bear primary caregiving roles. However, applicants may be reluctant to disclose disruptions for fear of appearing weak, and it is unknown whether such disclosures actually improve fairness in funding outcomes.

Clarifying reviewer responses to these disclosures is essential to ensure that policies intended to level the playing field achieve their aims and do not inadvertently worsen inequities.