Women Inventors • Mothers of Invention • Women Inventors - Famous Highlights

Related Resources Women's History Month

Until about 1840, only 20 other U.S. patents were issued to women. The inventions related to apparel, tools, cook stoves, and fire places. Patents are the proof of "ownership" of an invention and only the inventor(s) can apply for a patent. In the past, women were not allowed equal rights of property ownership (patents are a form of intellectual property) and many women patented their inventions under their husband's or father's names. In the past, women were also prevented from receiving the higher education necessary for inventing. (Unfortunately, some countries in the world today still deny women equal rights and an equal education.)

We will never know all the women who deserve credit for their creative labor, as the Patent and Trademark Office does not require gender, racial, or ethnic identification in patent or trademark applications. Through diligent research and a few educated guesses, we can identify trends in patenting by women. Here are a few highlights of recent statistical analysis to ponder, to celebrate, and to give reason to encourage girls and women to pursue science-, math-, and technology-based courses and careers. 

• The women inventor patent share of annually granted U.S. origin patents rose from 2.6 percent in 1977 to 10.3 percent in 1998.
• The majority of the U.S. origin woman-inventor patents are in the chemical technologies.
• In 1996, 11.2 percent of the U.S. origin patent grants which were owned by the Federal Government at the time of grant included a woman inventor.
• In the past 20 years, about 83 percent of the U.S. origin patent grants to women were for utility patents, 16.5 percent for design patents, and 0.5 for plant patents.
• About 35 percent of the U.S. origin women inventors patents granted during the 1977 to 1996 period originated from California, New York, or New Jersey.

Other pages > Mothers of Invention - A Few Famous Women Inventors