Why are women underrepresented amongst patentees?

We investigate women's underrepresentation among holders of commercialized patents: only 5.5% of holders of such patents are female. Using the National Survey of College Graduates 2003, we find only 7% of the gap in patenting rates is accounted for by women's lower probability of holding any science or engineering degree, because women with such a degree are scarcely more likely to patent than women without. Differences among those without a science or engineering degree account for 15%, while 78% is accounted for by differences among those with a science or engineering degree. For the latter group, we find that women's underrepresentation in engineering and in jobs involving development and design explain much of the gap.

► Women hold only 5.5% of commercialized patents. ► This is not due to their underrepresentation in science and engineering. ► It is largely due to the underrepresentation of women scientists and engineers in engineering and their overrepresentation in life sciences. ► Conditional on field, women's underrepresentation in jobs involving development and design further reduces their patenting.