Editing Patent (section)

=== Gender gap in patents ===
[[File:Participation of women inventors in PCT Applications 2009-2023.png|thumb|Share of women amongst listed inventors in [[Patent Cooperation Treaty|PCT]] applications from 2009 till 2023. In 2023, 17.7% of inventors were women.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Organization |first=World Intellectual Property |title=PCT Yearly Review 2024 |url=https://www.wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/wipo-pub-901-2024-en-patent-cooperation-treaty-yearly-review-2024.pdf |access-date=2024-06-25 |website=www.wipo.int |language=en}}</ref> ]]
In the US, married women were historically precluded from obtaining patents. While section 1 of the [[Patent Act of 1790]] did refer to "she",<ref>{{Cite web|last=Patent Act of 1790|first=Chapter 7, 1 Stat. 109–112|date=April 10, 1790|title=The First United States Patent Statute|url=https://ipmall.law.unh.edu/sites/default/files/hosted_resources/lipa/patents/Patent_Act_of_1790.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122005813/https://ipmall.law.unh.edu/sites/default/files/hosted_resources/lipa/patents/Patent_Act_of_1790.pdf|access-date=26 February 2021|archive-date=22 January 2021}}</ref> married women were unable to own property in their own name and were also prohibited from rights to their own income, including income from anything they invented.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Khan|first=Zorina B.|date=1996|title=Married Women's Property Laws and Female Commercial Activity: Evidence from United States Patent Records, 1790–1895|url=http://www.laits.utexas.edu/~mbs31415/Khan_MarriedWomenPropertyRights.pdf|journal=The Journal of Economic History|volume=56|issue=2|pages=356–388|doi=10.1017/S002205070001648X|s2cid=154441953|access-date=2021-03-05|archive-date=2021-04-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428232330/http://www.laits.utexas.edu/~mbs31415/Khan_MarriedWomenPropertyRights.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> This historical gender gap has lessened over the course of the 20th and 21st centuries, however, disparity is still prevalent.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last1=Marcowitz-Bitton|first1=Miriam|last2=Kaplan|first2=Yotam |last3=Michiko Morris |first3=Emily|date=2020|title=Unregistered Patents & Gender Equality|url=https://harvardjlg.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2020/04/HLG102_crop.pdf|journal=Harvard Journal of Law & Gender|volume=43|page=47|access-date=2021-02-26|archive-date=2021-06-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210623193520/https://harvardjlg.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2020/04/HLG102_crop.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> In the UK, for example, only 8% of inventors were female as of 2015.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Intellectual Property Offiece|date=March 2016|title=Gender Profiles in UK Patenting An analysis of female inventorship|url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/514320/Gender-profiles-in-UK-patenting-An-analysis-of-female-inventorship.pdf|access-date=February 26, 2021|archive-date=June 23, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210623193518/https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/514320/Gender-profiles-in-UK-patenting-An-analysis-of-female-inventorship.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> This can partly be attributed to historical barriers for women to obtain patents,<ref name=":0" /> as well as to the fact that women are underrepresented in traditionally "patent-intensive" sectors, particularly [[Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics|STEM]] sectors.<ref name=":1" /> Marcowitz-Bitton et al. argue that the gender gap in patents is also a result of internal bias within the patent system.<ref name=":1" />