Gender inequalities in research funding: Unequal network configurations, or unequal network returns?

Despite longstanding discussions and consequent improvements of gender representation in academia, the number of women working in academic research, their performance and their recognition still indicate the persistence of gender inequalities. Of the various mechanisms that may drive such inequality the one that relates the structure of research collaborative networks to the rewards that these networks facilitate is intriguing. If social networks play a role in academic performances and women are under-recognized compared to men, what are the mechanisms that relate networks to gender inequalities in academia? Do men and women obtain equal returns from similar network structure, or do women have to build different networks to obtain similar returns?