International Women in Engineering Day: Inventors and Innovators

Alice Mortiboy, Patent Attorney at Potter Clarkson, explores the gender gap in engineering - and finds it starts from the moment of innovation. - ahead of International Women in Engineering Day.

In my job as a patent attorney, I work closely with inventors to help them to protect their intellectual property and create value from their ideas.  While my job is mostly office based, I work with different technologies every day, primarily those in the cleantech and advanced materials sector.  

Historically, the patent attorney profession (like a lot of the legal profession) has been male dominated.  I would say that this is still reflected today, with a disproportionate number of the most senior partners being male.  Nevertheless, things in the profession have changed and there is definitely a more equal mix of males and females in mid-level and junior roles (i.e., those in the first 10 years of their career).  Therefore, I expect in the next 10 years, the most senior roles being occupied by an equal proportion of men and women.   

However, in my career so far, the most notable area of gender disparity that I have noticed is with the inventors that I work with.  Over the past 5 years I have worked with only a couple of female inventors compared to tens of male inventors.

According to data from the International Patent Office (known as WIPO), in 2021 only 16.5% of international patent applicants were women.  In the same year, only one third of patent applications listed at least one women inventor.

It is not just ‘a nice thing’ to have women involved in the patenting system.  It has been shown that SMEs that have at least one form of intellectual property rights (e.g., patents, trademarks or design rights) have 68% higher revenues per employee than SMEs without any intellectual property rights, and this increases to 98% higher revenues per employee when SMEs have patents, trademarks and design rights.

Where are the female inventors?

It cannot be ignored that there is simply an underrepresentation of women in STEM careers and so less likely that women will be working on patentable technologies. The cleantech and advanced materials industries (which would encompass any plastic-based inventions) frequently have a strong engineering focus. It is often the case that women are even further underrepresented in the engineering sector compared to some other STEM fields, such as life sciences. 

Another theory is that women inventors are less likely to put themselves forward, or highlight their contribution, in order to be a ‘named inventor’ on a patent application. 

An additional aspect is that the patenting process can be difficult and costly to navigate.  It may be than women inventors or all female teams (who often disproportionally receive less early-stage funding and investment) do not consider or overlook the patenting system due to cost and complexity hurdles.

This is where groups such as Women in Plastics can really help. Networking groups that connect people across the industry, from engineers to patent attorneys to marketing executives, allow useful business relationships to be made.  A quick and informal conversation over coffee can sometimes save a lot of headache down the line!