Join us for IWPR’s 2026 Power+ Summit, The Power Grid: Driving Gender Equity Forward, taking place September 28–29 in Detroit, MI.
Together, we will spark bold ideas, share breakthroughs, and shape the future of gender equity.
So much for the “mother” of invention.
There’s a gaping gender gap in U.S. patents filed each year, with just 8% of them counting a woman as the primary inventor, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. Worse, they predict that women won’t close this patenting gap for another 75 years, which brings us to 2092.
The IWPR links the lack of female inventors taking the lead on patents to the fact that women are still underrepresented in STEM fields, although there are signs that girls are gravitating toward math and science.