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The Gender Gap in Patenting: Is Technology Transfer a Feminist Issue?
- NWSA Journal
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 21, Number 2, Summer 2009
- pp. 65-84
- 10.1353/ff.2009.a316153
- Article
- Additional Information
In all countries, across all sectors and in all fields, the percentage of women obtaining patents is not only less than their male counterparts but it is less than the percentage of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in the field in the country.
This raises several questions: First, why aren't women obtaining patents at the same rate as their male counterparts? Second, is this a feminist issue? Finally, what can we apply from Women's Studies to close this gender gap in patenting? Articulating the goals for commercialization of science to link them directly with making society better and helping people should provide powerful incentives for women to patent and participate in technology transfer.