Innovation Gender Gap

Innovation and creativity are the engines of economic growth. Policies that support and encourage these activities are likely to spur creativity and innovative thinking, potentially solve the challenges today, and increase living standards worldwide. Nevertheless, research, innovation and creative fields remain male-dominated fields. although the rate of participation has been increasing over the past thirty years, women are heavily under-represented in these fields, accounting for less than twenty percent of listed inventors and creators.

As ideas become harder to find, overlooking the potential of half the population leads to lost opportunities for innovation, reduces the quality and quantity of ideas, and leaves market segments unexplored. To address these issues, evidence-based policy recommendations are key. Producing sex-disaggregated data and gender indicators allows economists and researchers to identify and quantify barriers to women’s participation, assess their persistence, and understand the mechanisms behind. To support national IP offices and researchers more broadly, WIPO compiles the latest methodologies and best practices to help in measuring women's participation in the innovation ecosystem.

Innovation gender gap insights

These stories offer insights from economic research work on the gender gap in innovation in a short and accessible manner. They shed light on what we know and how we measure the gap. They also offer potential actions to address it.
A woman and a man engage in focused discussion over a digital tablet and laptop

To Know or To Think to Know? How Men and Women Assess Their Knowledge About IP Rights

Do women and men differ in what they know and think they know about IP rights? Understanding knowledge gaps is essential for designing effective interventions to close the gender divide in innovation.
Hand drawing a light bulb from a ball of yarn

Exploring Women and Men’s Awareness about IP Rights

How do people feel about IP rights? And do women and men differ in what they know about IP rights? Understanding knowledge gaps is essential for designing effective interventions to close the gender divide in innovation.
Schoolgirl in a chemical laboratory

Finding Marie Curies: Steps Towards a More Inclusive Innovation and IP ecosystem

Insights from Prof. Myriam Mariani’s keynote lecture
Abstract technology image with woman using VR environment

Understanding Women’s Participation in Innovation and IP

Over the past decade, women's participation in inventing activities has been increasing, though at a gradual pace.

Where to find resources?

Explore essential resources that drive research.
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Literature

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Guidelines for gender disaggregated analysis

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GitHub open source project

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Events

Seminar series on the IP gender gap

WIPO – in collaboration with Invent Together – is organizing a series of online seminars with intellectual property (IP) offices and innovation stakeholders on the IP gender gap in different regions across the world. Its goal is to raise awareness, evaluate it quantitatively and qualitatively, and discuss policies and other actions that show promise in addressing it.

High-level policy panels

IP economists panels

Upcoming events

Subscribe to our newsletter and get notified of our next seminars

Why is the gender gap an issue?

The unequal participation of women to men in the IP system is troubling. It potentially indicates missed opportunities to address pressing global concerns from women innovators and creators.
In addition, it may affect innovation and economic productivity, implying a burden on the wealth and growth of the economy.

Narrowing the gender participation gap is of utmost importance to meet the UN's Sustainable Development Goal #5 of achieving gender equality and empower all women and girls.

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Why is it important to tackle under-representation in innovation and creative sectors?

Women’s under-representation in innovation, creativity, and the intellectual property system limits the diversity of ideas, perspectives, and contributions that drive progress. When certain groups are excluded or under-represented, innovation and creative sectors become skewed toward certain fields and products. This makes it harder to uncover breakthrough ideas, leaving major market opportunities untapped, and preventing a significant share of the global population from benefiting from innovation.

Women's underrepresentation is not due to a lack of talent or ambition but reflects structural barriers and unequal access to opportunities. Compared to men, women often face greater obstacles, including differential returns on their work, family responsibilities, limited access to professional networks and credit, and persistent discrimination. These challenges create significant gaps in participation and recognition within the IP system.

Recognizing this, WIPO, its member states, and stakeholders are committed to working together to identify the barriers that exist and to take proactive, systemic actions that will foster greater inclusion of women in innovation and IP. Addressing these challenges is critical not only for fairness, but also for unlocking the full potential of innovation such that it benefits society.
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Gender Equality, Diversity and Intellectual Property

Explore what else WIPO is doing to promote gender inclusion in our work.

What can we do?

There are two ways in which economic researchers and policy analysts can try to address this pressing matter:

Identify women inventors and creators

The first step is establishing a baseline to address the problem. Where do women inventors and creators stand? The current share of women's participation in innovation and IP would help to situate how far is left to bridge the gender gap, partially fulfilling the UN SDG #5.
In this regard, IP data - patents, utility models, industrial design, and registered copyrights, to name a few - contain a rich set of information on inventors, designers, and creators.

To support national IP offices and researchers more broadly, WIPO compiles the latest methodologies and best practices to help in measuring women's participation in the innovation ecosystem.

Understand what the challenges for women inventors and creators are

A second step is to encourage quantitative research at the intersection of gender participation, innovation, and creativity. The innovation and IP data combined with additional data related to economic activities can provide insights on women's contribution to social-economic development and economic growth.
Questions to address include:
  • How are women participating in Innovation and IP creation?
  • What challenges do women face to start and when innovating?
  • What policies can improve gender balance?

Get involved by joining our GitHub community on IP, Gender and Innovation.