A recent PNAS article (1) argues that success rates for attaining research grants are gender-biased. However, the overall gender effect borders on statistical significance, despite the large sample. Moreover, their conclusion could be a prime example of Simpson’s paradox (2, 3); if a higher percentage of women apply for grants in more competitive scientific disciplines (i.e., with low application success rates for both men and women), then an analysis across all disciplines could incorrectly show “evidence” of gender inequality. Indeed, the social sciences …