Gender mainstreaming research funding: a study of effects on STEM research proposals

Abstract

Policymakers increasingly try to steer researchers to choose topics of societal concern and to conduct research in ways that reflect such concerns. One increasingly common approach is prompting researchers to integrate certain perspectives into the content of their research, but little is known about the effects of this governance modality. We analyze 1,189 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics research proposals submitted to the Swedish Research Council which, starting in 2020, required all applicants to consider including the sex and/or gender perspectives in their research. We identify three overarching strategies upon which researchers rely (content-, performer-, and impact-centered) and analyze the ways in which researchers across disciplines motivate, through text, the inclusion or exclusion of these perspectives. Based on our findings, we discuss the scope of the desired effect(s) of a requirement of this kind.