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Figure 2. Proportion of firms with at least one patent by owner gender and STEM status (2012
SBO). WOMEN’S ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN STEM 721

1.5%
1.5%
1.3%

1.0%

0.5%
0.5% 0.4% 0.4%
0.3% 0.2%
0.2%

0.0%
Women-owned STEM Men-owned STEM Women-owned non-STEM Men-owned non-STEM
Patents granted Patents pending

Figure 2. Proportion of firms with at least one patent by owner gender and STEM status (2012 SBO).

Source: U.S. Census estimates from 2012 Survey of Business Owners.
Source: U.S. Census from 2012 Survey of Business Owners.

Note: Firms operating in STEM fields are identified using two-digit NAICS codes representing industries in which STEM
Note: Firms operating in STEM fields are identified using two-digit NAICS codes representing industries in
occupations make up 5.8% (national average) of total employment.
which STEM occupations make up 5.8% (national average) of total employment.
women-owned firms (Figure 2). This stands in stark microheterogeneity in outcomes across some fields.

contrast to men- and women-owned non-STEM In the medical sciences, one study suggests little evi-
businesses, which show virtually no gap between dence of a gender gap persists, as women may simply
firm ownership of intellectual property. be less likely to report patenting and commercializa-
While studies related to commercialization are tion activity in the same volume as men (21). Studies

more limited than those focused solely on entrepre- of patenting in the academic life sciences find that
neurship, they identify a clear trend that women are while women produce fewer patents, this may be a

less likely than men to commercialize or patent inno- generational trend, most prevalent among senior fac-
vations. Worldwide, men continually patent more ulty (22).
frequently than women, a gap that has decreased Demonstrating the size and existence of the
only slightly since the 1970s (20). As the descrip- gender gap in commercialization outcomes is import-
tive analysis suggests, this trend may have important ant to motivating applied research, but understanding
implications for the economic outcomes of women, the potential causes of the gap may further aid in
particularly for women entrepreneurs in STEM fields developing exact policy solutions to target the dispar-
and their firms. Future analyses of commercializa- ity. The literature cites both individual and external
tion among women in STEM would benefit from influences as critical in defining the commercial-
improved data collection on commercialization ization gap. These draw on gender differences in
outcomes and their inclusion in publicly available, education and training, work preferences, and dis-
nationally representative microdata, two factors that crimination faced professionally.
limited this paper’s data analysis. Most often, studies identify the most influential
While many analyses, including this report’s, predictor of this gap as lower levels of prior experi-
evidence this gender disparity in commercial- ence with commercialization among women than
ization, systematic comparative studies of the men (6,23). Blume-Kohout (2014) shows that this
commercialization gap in different disciplines have may begin early in a woman’s STEM career. She finds 11

not been conducted, and several studies point to that female engineering Ph.D. students are less likely