Washington D.C. – A new academic paper published this week found that among the 2,291 active grants that were unceremoniously cancelled by the Trump-RFK Jr. NIH last year — cuts that cost far more than they saved — “women, particularly those early in their careers, were disproportionately affected by terminations [57.9% vs. 48.2% for men], even though they receive less funding from the NIH in general.”
The paper follows a report last week finding that of the almost 300,000 federal jobs slashed in 2025 by the administration, “Black women were a stunning 33 percent of those cuts,” with HHS “among the hardest-hit agencies.”
For some reason, the HHS’ heavily skewed targeting of women-led grants and Black women staff did not come up during the department’s inaugural conference on women’s health this month.
“The Trump-RFK Jr. HHS might as well post a sign on the door: ‘Women need not apply,’ said Kayla Hancock, Director of Protect Our Care’s Public Health Project. “More and more we see how the administration is systematically rigging the system further in favor of wealthy men and corporate donors by denying access to women researchers and expert staff, all the while targeting research and health programs addressing women’s health.”
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