"Only a woman would have thought of that"

International Women's Day - a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women - has been around for a long time, since 1911 at least. As IWD 2023 approaches, it is interesting to look back at the achievements of women over the past century in terms of innovation, and more particularly, patent filings.

According to the UK International Property Office (UKIPO), "Historically, females have been underrepresented amongst patent inventors ... Before 1965, the proportion of female inventors was generally between 2% and 3%. Since then, the proportion of female inventors has risen at an accelerating pace, having risen to 6.8% in 1998, and almost doubling since to reach 12.7% in 2017."

Despite the relatively low numbers shown on the far left of this graph, it is nevertheless clear that women from all walks of life have been filing patent applications for pretty much as long as the modern patent system has been in existence. Indeed, it is believed that the first patent granted to a woman was in 1809 (Mary Kies, for a new method of straw weaving).

A 1911 edition of "The Vote" newspaper was proud to provide a list of patents applied for by women: "Women have entered the world of invention, and their expertise in many occupations reveals to them defects which they are fully capable of remedying ... The lists which we propose to give from time to time may encourage others to turn their attention to remedying defects that come under their notice".

These applications were not restricted to fields traditionally thought of as "female", such as clothing, baby carriages or domestic labour saving devices. Patents granted to female inventors in 1911 include: an improved acetylene generator, created by sisters Agnes and Florence Morris of Duke Street, Aberdare; a drive belt particularly suitable for motor cycles, devised by Mrs Isabella Appleby of Aston, Birmingham; and an apparatus for measuring the fuel consumption in internal combustion engines, invented by Mrs Beatrice Oppermann of Tollington Park, London.

In 1913, The Advertiser newspaper reported that "no fewer than six hundred women applied for patents last year, which fact alone is sufficient to disprove the generally accepted idea that women lack inventive genius".

And according to an article in "The Millom Gazette", dated 1 May 1914:

"It is not generally known what an important part women play in the world of invention. A woman has a mind for detail often overlooked by mere men, and her inventions usually take a severely practical turn, being as simple as they are useful. "Only a woman would have thought of that", you will often hear people say"."

Since women clearly do not "lack inventive genius", what explains the continuing gender gap in patent filings? According to a recent European Patent Office (EPO) publication, "Women’s participation in inventive activity":

"The low participation of women in patenting has been attributed to a variety of factors. First and foremost, women who choose any type of career, and especially those in the STEM professions, face tougher selection than men. This explains the “leaking pipeline” phenomenon, by which invisible barriers filter out women STEM graduates first from research jobs and subsequently from the upper echelons of their organisations ... Women at universities have fewer links to industry and are confined to more traditional academic career models than men ... Low recognition extends to business R&D, where women earn less than men although they contribute as much to the development of high-quality inventions ... Evidence from US patents suggests that women inventors are less likely than men who invent to obtain and maintain patent rights."

It might surprise you to learn that this gender gap is more pronounced in Europe than in countries such as China and Korea. According to the EPO publication, and as shown in the graph below:

"The WIR [women inventor rate] in EPO countries (13.2%) is slightly lower than in the United States (15% in 2019) ... but higher than in Japan (9.5%). Note however that it is significantly lower than in P.R. China (26.8%) and R. Korea (28.3%), which exhibit the highest WIR levels among the top innovation centres".

"The countries with a higher WIR may be patenting more in technological fields with higher women’s participation, or depend more, for patenting, on universities and public research organisations (PROs) rather than companies, the former being possibly more open to women’s participation, due to historical reasons or public regulation".

The EPO publication also illustrates differences in WIR across different technology sectors. While the share of women inventors increases over time in all five sectors, as shown in the graph below, Chemistry has by far the highest WIR (around 22% in the 2010–2019 period), four times higher than the lowest WIR sector, Mechanical engineering (5.2%). The EPO surmises that these differences across technology sectors could be explained by women’s educational preferences, which in turn may be affected by role models in the family, working conditions in different economic sectors and their impact on the work-family balance.

The EPO publication concludes that "the gender gap varies appreciably across technologies and types of applicants: the more science-based a field (in particular, the closer to the life sciences) and the higher the weight of universities and public laboratories in patenting, the larger the share of women. This suggests that the fields where the gender gap is more acute could usefully borrow from those where it is weaker, in terms of work practices and cultural acceptance. The same applies to companies relative to universities".

Why does any of this matter? Well, according to the EPO's 2022 report, "society is missing out on many goods, drugs and services due to the low participation of women in inventive activities ... a lack of women inventors translates into reduced breadth and inclusivity of technology".

To counter this "lack of women inventors", the EPO has published a number of articles celebrating female innovators, including "women inventors you may never have heard about". These inspirational women will hopefully "encourage others to turn their attention to remedying defects that come under their notice".

Further Reading:

Women's Participation in Inventive Activity (European Patent Office)

Gender profiles in worldwide patenting: An analysis of female inventorship (UK Intellectual Patent Office)

Equity in Innovation: Women Inventors and Patents (Institute for Women's Policy Research)

Where are U.S. women patentees? Assessing three decades of growth (US Patent and Trademark Office)