Patent Law Practice Center

The dearth of women in patenting cannot be explained completely by the lower numbers of women in STEM careers

A recent study released from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) reveals that much progress has been made to close the patent gender gap over the last four decades. Sadly, despite the fact that the number of women inventors has quintupled since the 1970s, less than 20% of issued U.S. patents have at least one woman inventor and only 7.7% of issued U.S. patents list a woman as the primary inventor. Much work still needs to be done in order to take advantage of the vast resources of creative potential in this largely untapped talent pool.

To further the discussion, I recently conducted a roundtable interview with three women who have given this matter a great deal of thought. One of them, Jennifer Gottwald (pictured left)  is a Licensing Manager in the Technology Commercialization Department at the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF). I asked her whether there are fewer women on patents simply because there are fewer women in STEM fields? Her answer: No. The lack of women as inventors who use the patent system goes beyond the mere fact that fewer women pursue STEM careers. (more…)