Women in IP: Progress is underway but ‘the STEM gap is alive and well’

Representation of women in IP matters but  there is still work to do, especially in STEM fields, insist panellists during a WIPR Insights webinar to celebrate World IP Day | Five IP trailblazers—including from the Broad Institute at MIT, Harvard, and Tradespace—discuss the progress of women in IP.

We can safely say there are many diversity and inclusion (D&I) initiatives to encourage and retain women in IP and innovation—more than ever—but is enough progress being made?

A panel of five women working in IP discussed this very topic on ‘Pioneering Women in IP: Building a Common Future with Innovation & Creativity’, ahead of World IP Day today (April 26).

And with this year’s World IP Day theme being ‘IP and the UN Sustainable Development Goals’ (SDGs), the panel explored how women in IP can contribute towards the SDGs.

There are 17 of these goals, including gender equality, but there's also an array of goals aimed at creating a cleaner, greener planet.

So, with this in mind, are women well placed to lead on this?

Melissa Brand, senior director, corporate counsel & IP, Radius Health, noted that a lot of the SDGs are targeted at women.

“The goals include, for example, increasing the productivity of women, reducing maternal mortality rate, and reducing violence against women. And I think, who better to speak and lead for these women targeted initiatives than women themselves?”

Considering last year’s World IP Day theme, which focused on emphasising the “crucial role of women in propelling innovation and creativity”, WIPR Insights asked whether we’re achieving that.

Marcia Chang, vice president of IP operations at Tradespace, believes that progress has “absolutely” been made.

“I think the fact that we are all here in this webinar is a testament to that,” she said, adding that 20 years ago, it was difficult to find more than a small group of women in the industry at panel discussions and conferences.

“Now I see a considerable number of us, and I think that's great.”

She added: “The biggest takeaway for me from this past year is that representation matters.

“Representation is crucial to empower the next generation of women. We are at a very powerful moment right now in our industry, because younger women can see a path to a fulfilling career and envision themselves in leadership roles.”

Barriers to entry

Discussing the barriers to creating an inclusive landscape for women in IP, the feeling was that while they exist, women can help each other to break them down.

Robin Weatherhead, vice president of IP & legal at Ventus Therapeutics, believes it helps “just seeing women in leadership roles, seeing those women aspiring to those positions”. But barriers, she said, “start pretty early on”.

“I think all of us can say early on in our growth as girls, to [becoming] IP professionals, there have been certain barriers.

“The first is just getting exposed to STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics subjects]. 

"We're seeing a lot of girls getting involved in STEM now, and that's great. But I certainly didn't have that type of encouragement—it just kind of happened through support networks, good family, good teachers."

Weatherhead added that it's about just "getting the word out to even female graduate students or female scientists that yes, this is an incredibly rewarding profession, upwardly mobile and much more balanced when it comes to gender.”

Kenya Williams, IP counsel at Thermo Fisher Scientific, pointed out that that the legal profession is still predominantly male, but agreed there has been progress.

“We just have to keep the momentum going,” she said. “We can't rest on our laurels…we just have to keep going because although women represent at least 50% of the population, we're definitely well under that number with respect to many professions."

Women, she added, are particularly underrepresented in the legal profession and STEM.

“Then when you combine legal and STEM, the numbers are even more startlingly different from those of our male counterparts.”

Opportunities for women in IP

Asked whether there are enough opportunities available in both innovation and IP for women—particularly in STEM-related fields such as technology, engineering and healthcare—the consensus was cautiously optimistic.

According to Chang, though, the “STEM gap is alive and well”.

“I think this is an area where we have a long way to go,” she said. “Research shows that we are far away from resembling any parity in the STEM fields.”

While numbers are better in the life sciences, she said that the fields of engineering and computer science are still struggling to attract more women.

“If you look at the research, it takes much more than just trying to recruit women—you have to have programmes to [help women] stick to those fields.”

Ensuring equal access for future generations

Nicole Mastrangelo, IP counsel at the Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard, said that ensuring equal access to IP for the next generation of women is “critical”.

She recalled that, in a previous job, she mentored a female scientist who was interested in IP law.

“Instead of going through the formal mentorship process that we had, I decided to meet with her for one hour, every two weeks. 

"We would cover one topic in IP law—I would have some slides for her, and I would make examples to show her how her work was intertwined with patent law.”

She also explained what to expect. “Going from a scientific career to a legal career is very different, and it's very difficult. And because you're adding this extra layer of education, it’s a highly predominant male role.

“If we promote women to go forward with it, and how we overcame their [same] barriers, that will help them ease through the path that we didn't have.”

Watch the webinar in full to hear the whole discussion.

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