Closing the Gender Patenting Gap

Women are less likely, historically, than men to have a patent application end in an issued patent. Studies of U.S. patent prosecution show that women inventors face higher rejection rates, are less likely to succeed on appeal, and are more likely to abandon applications after early pushback, all of which contribute to a lower overall grant rate for women compared with men.

Recently, a paper titled, “Closing the Gender Gap in Patenting: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial at the USPTO” (American Economic Journal: Economic Policy August 2025) examined the disparities in patent applications based on the gender of the  submitter. The findings indicated that persistence and appeal to application comments by patent examiners may change the outcome and the statistics of females receiving patents. 

Negotiating patent application comments brings success

The paper examined both men and women submitting patent applications without a patent attorney or “pro-se” and receiving comments on their applications from patent examiners. Women seemed to be better at negotiating these amendments and comments more successfully than men, stating that the success was “driven primarily by an increase in successful negotiations by women inventor teams via the use of examiner’s amendments.”