The Minority Gender Patent Gap

A minority gap in patenting -- just like other gaps -- is detrimental for our innovation system.

I previously wrote about an interesting study finding that women were granted patents at a far lower rate than men. While it is well known that women hold a lower number of patents than men, the study highlighted that inherent biases may play a role in the patent gender gap. For example, where an application listed inventors with obviously female names, they had a lower chance of being approved. Similarly, for female inventors who had patents granted, those with obviously female names were cited 30 percent less frequently than obviously male names, but for less common female names, patent citations actually increased over less common male names.

Not surprisingly, we not only have a patent gender gap problem, but a minority gender gap problem. Last week, the Institute of Women’s Policy Research released a report finding that women of color, in particular, are less likely to own patents. According to the report, Black and Hispanic women are particularly underrepresented. While this isn’t exactly a groundbreaking revelation — we see diversity problems nearly everywhere — it’s still important to address these issues. Unlike the study from earlier this year on the gender gap, this one focuses on trends and patent holdings, rather than looking at biases in the application process. Regardless of the reason behind the gap, this report should still be taken seriously and the innovation community must determine how to promote greater diversity and equity in the patent world.

Here’s why it matters. Society benefits from diversity and we need new innovations from multifaceted perspectives to address existing problems. A problem that is more prevalent in a particular minority community may not be addressed if we do not have inventors from these communities. Even for an issue that applies to society as a whole, an invention created by a white man might only work for that population and leave unaddressed other aspects of concern to women and minorities.

While many have heralded technology as leveling the playing field and providing equal access (theoretically) to social media platforms, numerous systems have inherent biases that shape the way they operate. Last year, for example, Google Translate took heat for translating sentences from Turkish — which uses gender-neutral platforms — to English, in which the algorithms had to make a choice in translating gender. For example, when referencing a doctor in a gender-neutral way in Turkish, Google Translate spit out “He is a doctor.” When referring to a teacher, Google Translate determined that the translation was, “She is a teacher.” Translating from Turkish to English, Google translated the neutral pronoun to a male pronoun for engineers, soldiers and hardworking, while assuming a female pronoun for nurse, cook and lazy. Let’s remember that algorithms are created by people and learn from existing culture and information; biases in the system are clearly problematic and perpetuate existing inequities.

Think Facebook’s patent (if granted) for determining socio-economic status won’t be filled with biases that disadvantage minority populations? Or take Amazon’s facial recognition software, known as Rekognition, which in a test conducted by the ACLU mistakenly matched 28 members of Congress with mugshots, and “[t]he false matches were disproportionately people of color, including six members of the Congressional Black Caucus, among them civil rights legend Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) . . . Nearly 40 percent of Recoknition’s false matches in our test were of people of color, even though they make up only 20 percent of Congress.” These biases also demonstrate the importance of greater diversity — both in terms of gender and race (as well as other overlooked communities, such as people with disabilities) — in patents and innovation.

As I noted in my post on the gender patent gap, inequities in the patent system can result in perpetuating the existing social, employment, and financial inequities; naturally, these points hold equally (if not more) true for a patent gap for minority women.

A gender gap in patenting — just like other gaps — is detrimental for our innovation system. New inventions are less likely to adequately address gender-specific issues (or those for minorities, persons with disabilities, etc.). Women may be less likely to secure venture capital for a new business without a patent, making it more difficult to move forward. Inherent biases can perpetuate a multitude of historical problems associated with gender gaps, including financial inequity.

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Businesses may find greater success when holding a patent and be more likely to get started or advance. Greater innovation by minority women therefore has the potential for more diverse solutions to existing problems, but also in allowing greater diversity in business.

How do we address this lack of diversity? In addition to various suggestions on creating a more blind review process for patent applications (such as through anonymization), we need to address other barriers to getting a patent in the first place. Those from underrepresented groups may be overwhelmed by the patent application process or lack the funds to pay the required fees. Even if they can come up with the money for PTO’s fees, they may lack additional capital for a patent attorney to shepherd them through the process. While a patent attorney isn’t necessary, it can certainly be helpful in ensuring a successful outcome.

Our innovation system will benefit in numerous ways from greater diversity, including from minority women and women more broadly. In order to promote such diversity, we need to change the patent application system and remove barriers for underrepresented groups.


Krista L. Cox is a policy attorney who has spent her career working for non-profit organizations and associations. She has expertise in copyright, patent, and intellectual property enforcement law, as well as international trade. She currently works for a non-profit member association advocating for balanced copyright. You can reach her at kristay@gmail.com.

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