That’s because male and female scientists use different types of word on grant applications, according to the study, published by the US National Bureau of Economic Research.
Nothing like making a grammatical error in an article about language use .
Note to self: write proposals about the stuff with the thing.
But seriously, when I wrote my first grant proposal, I was 23 years old. I had an older colleague look it over for grammar only, so the reviewers would think I was an older person. The trick worked.
Now that I mention it, why do the people reviewing these things have access to the authors’ names let alone their genders? That’s bad practice. They should review it on technical merit.
In past experience, one reviewer read the proposal on its technical merit, and another one read it to assess the research and development team, and a third one for the business case. Of course, this depends wildly on the type of grant and the organization awarding the grant.