Gender Systematics in the NRAO Proposal Review System
Gareth Hunt, Frederic R. Schwab, P. A. Henning, and Dana S. Balser

TL;DR
This study examines gender-based biases in NRAO proposal reviews, showing a shift from male favoritism to a more balanced or female-favoring trend after intervention measures, and proposes dual-anonymous review to further reduce bias.
Contribution
It provides empirical evidence of gender bias reversal in NRAO proposal reviews and suggests implementing dual-anonymous review to mitigate bias.
Findings
Gender bias favored males before 17A semester.
Bias shifted towards females after 17A semester.
Dual-anonymous review proposed to reduce bias.
Abstract
Several recent investigations indicate the existence of gender-related systematic trends in the peer review of proposals for observations on astronomical facilities. This includes the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) where there is evidence of a gender imbalance in the rank of proposals with male principal investigators (PIs) favored over female PIs. Since semester 2017A (17A), the NRAO has taken the following steps: (1) inform science review panels (SRPs) and the telescope time allocation committee (TAC) about the gender imbalance; and (2) increase the female representation on SRPs and the TAC to reflect the community demographics. Here we analyze SRP normalized rank-ordered scores, or linear ranks, by PI gender for NRAO observing proposals from semesters 12A-21A. We use bootstrap resampling to generate modeled distributions and the Anderson-Darling (AD) test to evaluate the…
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