Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/67260 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 6886
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
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.
Subjects: 
patenting
gender
JEL: 
J16
O31
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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