Gender Disparity in Surgical Device Patents: A 5-year Trend From Canada and the United States

Lindsay E. Booth, Fu (Jorden) Lo, Melissa A. Davis, Lucy B. Spalluto, Judy Yee, Charlotte J. Yong-Hing, Nicolas Murray, Ahmad B. Alwazzan, Faisal Khosa

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Introduction: Despite an increasing number of women pursuing careers in science, engineering, and medicine, gender disparities in patents persist. This study sought to analyze trends in inventor's gender for surgical device patents filed and granted in Canada and the United States from 2015 to 2019. Methods: This study analyzed patents filed and granted by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) in the category of “Diagnosis; Surgery; Identification” and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in the category of “Surgery” from 2015 to 2019. The gender of the patent applicants was determined using a gender algorithm that predicts gender based on first names. Gender matches with names having a probability of less than 95% were excluded. Results: We identified 14,312 inventors on patents filed and 12,737 inventors on patents granted by the CIPO for “Diagnosis; Surgery; Identification”. In the USPTO category of “Surgery,” we identified 75,890 inventors on patents filed and 44,842 inventors on patents granted. Female inventors accounted for 7%-10% of inventors from 2015 to 2019 for both patents filed and granted. The proportion of female inventors on patents granted was significantly lower than for patents filed for four of the 5 y analyzed for both the USPTO and CIPO. Conclusions: Female representation in surgical device patenting has stagnated, between 7 and 10%, from 2015 to 2019 in Canada and the United States. This underrepresentation of female inventors in surgical device patenting represents sizable gender disparity.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)248-257
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Surgical Research
Volume280
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2022

Keywords

  • Equity, diversity, and inclusion
  • Gender diversity
  • Patents
  • Surgery
  • Surgical device patents

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Surgery

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Gender Disparity in Surgical Device Patents: A 5-year Trend From Canada and the United States'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this