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Figure 1. Exhibit celebrating women innovators at the USPTO headquarters in Alexandria, Va.,
in March 2017. Photo by Jay Premack/USPTO.

In the U.S., less than 25% of the STEM workforce Furthermore, the USPTO’s Pro Se Assistance Pro-
comprises women (2), and the USPTO’s patent exam- gram provides resources to those who file patent
ining corps is 27% women. While there is significant applications without the assistance of a registered
room to improve there, female patent examiners tend patent attorney or agent.
to stay in their careers. In the general workforce,
50% of women who originally work in STEM leave
after 12 years (compared to 20% of other profes-
sional women), and the majority of them move out
of STEM within the first five years (3). At the USPTO,
after 12 years, there is less than 5% attrition for both
men and women patent examiners.
In addition to supporting a diverse workforce, the
USPTO encourages women innovators and entrepre-
neurs across the county to protect their intellectual
property (IP). Women hold an extremely small share
of patents (fewer than one in five patents names a
woman inventor), and findings suggest that, at the Figure 2. A 2017 Camp Invention at Ursuline Academy, an all-
current rate, gender parity for patent holders is more girls school in New Orleans. Students learned about terra-
forming exoplanets, built circuits, and created product prototypes.
than 75 years away. One of the recommendations to Photo courtesy of National Inventors Hall of Fame.
increase women’s share of patents is to offer them
assistance with patenting costs (4). To support those In March 2018, the USPTO’s Office of Innovation
efforts, the USPTO’s Patent Pro Bono program seeks Development held its annual Women’s Entrepreneur-
to match under-resourced independent inventors ship Symposium, which focused on women inventors,
and small businesses with free or reduced cost legal entrepreneurs, and the importance of IP. The sympo-
assistance in preparing and filing patent applications. sium was designed to offer networking opportunities