Cintia Rebeiro, with Botanica, gives a presentation during the Empowering Women in Technology Startups final investor pitches at the Innovation Hub in 2013.
Women earn less than men. Sadly, that’s not news. But new research shows that women trail in patents and technology-related entrepreneurship too. That is news and it is also very bad for our economy.
Only 7 percent of “primary inventors” listed on U.S. patents are women, according to a new study by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR). Despite making up more than half of the population, and despite mountains of research showing that women’s leadership bolsters business profitability and likelihood of going public, women are still grossly underrepresented among innovators and technology entrepreneurs. Women pursue fewer degrees in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields than men, patent fewer new inventions than men and start fewer technology-based companies than men.
These gender disparities are not just issues of social equality and progress — they also hold back our economy. Closing the gap will not only ensure women have equal opportunity to innovate, it will unleash a legion of women innovators who can solve new problems, patent new ideas and bring those ideas to market.
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