What Caused The Patent Gender Gap? Recommended Reading Roundup

A recent report from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research brought to light that despite increasing attention towards eliminating the gender wage gap, there is still a large disparity between men and women when it comes to holding patents.

After the IWPR brief rekindled the discussion, many notable publications and experts weighed in with their take on what caused the gap.

We’ve rounded up 4 great articles to get you up to speed.

The Gender Patenting Gap | IWPR

Start here. IWPR’s briefing, which features analysis of published data and literature, lays out the facts around women inventors and patents held by women so you can see the big picture.

Why Do Women Inventors Hold So Few Patents? | The Atlantic

While some sources cite the lack of women with STEM degrees as the source of the patent gender gap, this piece from The Atlantic taps Lisa Seacat DeLuca from IBM and reporter/professor Karen Frenkel to offer up other possible causes such as underrepresentation within the scientific community.

Why are most inventors men? | PBS Newshour

The patent gap is serious, but 30 years ago it was even bigger. PBS Newshour explores how systemic problems within the USPTO played a part in building a male-centric innovation community.

The Patent Gender Gap: Less than 20% of U.S. patents have at least one woman inventor | IP Watchdog

No intellectual property topic would be complete without the input of IP Watchdog’s Gene Quinn. Quinn takes years of patent knowledge and succinctly tackles the issue in a way that few other can.

Want to read more patent focused reading? Check out our blog post This is What Patent Protection Does for The United States.