It’s taken 25 years for the share of women inventors named in international patent applications to almost double and, at its current pace, gender parity among Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)-listed inventors will only be reached in 2044. Look deeper, and the numbers are even more startling.
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has kindly provided WIPR with more in-depth statistics, which show that only 9.4% of PCT patents filed name a majority of women inventors. It’s an increase from 8.6% in 2018, but it’s still not good enough.
This percentage drops even further when you look at the share of patents with only female inventors named (5.9%). Clearly, progress remains sluggish, with shares increasing by 5.5% and 3.3% over 20 years, respectively.
WIPO, patent filing, female inventors, Francis Gurry, diversity, STEM, Intricate Research, Ohio State University, Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath