This is according to a study by the European Patent Office (EPO). In Germany that was ten percent, Austria is lagging behind with eight percent.
“Although Germany is the country with the most patent applications in Europe, our research shows that the proportion of female inventors is particularly low,” EPA researcher Ilja Rudyk told AFP news agency. Part of this can be explained by Germany’s greater specialization in fields such as mechanical and electrical engineering and a relatively high contribution from the private sector. “But even if you take these aspects into account, the gap with other European countries remains.”
The EPO examined patent applications between 1978 and 2019. The proportion of women rose sharply during this period – in the early 1970s it was still two percent. However, “a strong gender-specific divide” remains, the patent office explained. “The proportion of female inventors is also well below that of researchers and graduates in science and engineering.”
According to the EPA, most female inventors are located in Latvia (30.6 percent), Portugal (26.8 percent), Croatia (25.8 percent) and Spain (23.2 percent). As a technology sector, chemistry has the highest share of female inventors (22.4 percent) and mechanical engineering the lowest (5.2 percent). Within the chemical industry, the proportion of women applying for patents for biotechnology and drug research has risen to more than 30 percent each.
In general, the proportion of female inventors among researchers in public institutions is higher than in private companies. “That’s because academic research often takes place in those technology sectors where many women work, such as chemistry, biotechnology and pharmacy,” says Rudyk. “In addition, women seem to have a preference for working in public institutions.”
The EPO investigation makes no suggestions to change the situation. The patent office explained that the results point to a so-called leaky pipeline: the proportion of women in the total workforce in Germany is still very high, including among those with PhDs in natural sciences and those working in research and development. The low share of female inventors, not only in Germany, shows that women in scientific professions “are facing more and more obstacles at every career level”.
(SDA)