but regardless, I don't personally like the idea of race, or gendered based scholarships or awards.
Yet this is the status quo now, only white is privileged as are men. However this status quo is considered to be race and gender free already, and so people huff and puff at the idea of affirmative action, because it is blatant about seeking to do, what is subtly done already.
...But if you're right and the evidence suggests that women are being discriminated against (in terms of receiving scholarships and awards) despite having similar merits and achievements, then it's definitely something academia needs to deal with.
Yes, the evidence does suggest that. However perhaps I am misreading the way you begin your reply, the whole doubting it, in developed countries. Do you mean to suggest you doubt this happens in developed countries? :/
In the UK alone, men are more likely to gain research funding than women, and as their ages increase, this favouring of male research increases, so that post 50 years old, women barely stand a chance.
Affirmative action there wouldn't be saying oh we will take women who might not be as worthy as their male counterparts in their research proposals just for the sake of numbers, even if that appears to be the message behind those sort of quotas. All it does is ensure, that by hook or crook, women are given an equal chance. Or that whiteness is no longer privileged and masked as part of some imaginary merit system.