Women Inventors Make Progress but Still Lag Male Counterparts
- Patent office says 22% of U.S.-based patents listed a woman
- Numbers show the lost potential of women to the U.S. economy
Photographer: Alex Brandon/AP Photo
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American women are making slow but steady progress when it comes to innovation and obtaining legal protection for their inventions, according to a new study by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
The share of patents with at least one woman named as inventor was 22% by the end of 2019, up from 20.7% in 2016, according to the study of patents with at least one U.S.-based inventor. That’s still small considering half of all patents are issued to foreign inventors and women make up half of the country’s population.