The Patent Gender Gap: Less than 20% of U.S. Patents Have at Least One Woman Inventor
August1,2016 Although women have more than quintupled their representation among patent holders since 1977, a pronounced patent gender gap remains. In 2010, according to a new briefing paper by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR), fewer than one in five patents had at least one woman inventor named. Although quintupling the number of women inventors over the last 30+ years is impressive, at the current growth rate it is projected that it will take until 2092 for women to reach parity in patenting.
There is a very real patent gender gap. The question is what, if anything, can be done to close the gap?
The IWPR briefing paper reports that women make up only 7.7 percent of primary inventors who hold patents. According to IWPR, those women who are the primary inventor tend to hold patents for inventions associated with traditional female roles, such as jewelry and apparel.
Closing the patent gender gap and increasing women’s patenting rate could (and should) also increase access to venture capital funding for women owned businesses. Venture capital investors consider patents in funding determinations, so with women receiving few patents, it only stands to reason that women-owned businesses would not do well in the VC marketplace. Indeed, while 36.3 percent of all businesses in the United States are women-owned, only three percent of venture capital funding went to businesses with a woman CEO between 2011 and 2013.
“Not only do women and people of color have unequal access to the economic rewards and fulfillment of STEM careers and inventing, but the nation is missing out on a huge swath of talent and innovation that could contribute to solving important social and scientific problems,” said IWPR Vice President and Executive Director Barbara Gault, Ph.D. He added, “Supporting women inventors is a key element of a thriving innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem in the United States.”
Source: Quinn, Gene. IPWatchdog Official website.
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