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How Many Women Inventors are There?
In 1809, Mary Dixon Kies received
the first U. S. patent issued to a woman. Kies, a Connecticut native, invented
a process for weaving straw with silk or thread. First Lady Dolley Madison praised
her for boosting the nation’s hat industry. Unfortunately, the patent file
was destroyed in the great Patent Office fire in 1836.
Until about 1840,
only 20 other U.S. patents were issued to women. The inventions related to apparel,
tools, cook stoves, and fire places. Patents are the proof of "ownership"
of an invention and only the inventor(s) can apply for a patent. In the past,
women were not allowed equal rights of property ownership (patents are a form
of intellectual property) and many women patented their inventions under their
husband's or father's names. In the past, women were also prevented from receiving
the higher education necessary for inventing. (Unfortunately, some countries in
the world today still deny women equal rights and an equal education.) We
will never know all the women who deserve credit for their creative labor, as
the Patent and Trademark Office does not require gender, racial, or ethnic identification
in patent or trademark applications. Through diligent research and a few educated
guesses, we can identify trends in patenting by women. Here are a few highlights
of recent statistical analysis to ponder, to celebrate, and to give reason to
encourage girls and women to pursue science-, math-, and technology-based courses
and careers. The women inventor patent share of annually granted U.S. origin
patents rose from 2.6 percent in 1977 to 10.3 percent in 1998.
The majority
of the U.S. origin woman-inventor patents are in the chemical technologies.
In
1996, 11.2 percent of the U.S. origin patent grants which were owned by the Federal
Government at the time of grant included a woman inventor.
In the past
20 years, about 83 percent of the U.S. origin patent grants to women were for
utility patents, 16.5 percent for design patents, and 0.5 for plant patents.
About
35 percent of the U.S. origin women inventors patents granted during the 1977
to 1996 period originated from California, New York, or New Jersey.
Today,
hundreds of thousands of women apply for and receive a patent every year. So the
real answer to the question "how many women inventors are there?" is
more than you can count and growing. About 20% of all inventors are currently
female and that number should quickly rise to 50% over the next generation. -
Mary Bellis
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