Although there has been some progress in reducing the gender gaps in high-tech, science, and technology fields, they are still too large. The post-war Israeli economy does not have the privilege of giving up a valuable and necessary resource that will help the survival of companies and their economic growth. In light of all this, active action is required on several levels to speed up the process of gender equality in the world of innovation, and now is not soon enough.
In the worlds of science and technology, intellectual property is a clear indication of a company’s degree of innovation. Patents are like precise sensors that predict new technological trends and are harbingers of the trends that will soon dominate the public discourse. For example, the current buzz about creative artificial intelligence was preceded by many patents. However, patents are also an indication of social processes, and they can faithfully reflect the degree of involvement of women in the worlds of innovation and science.
To understand the dimensions of the gap, we turned to the latest report of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which surveyed the global gender gap in patents. The report, published in 2023 and examining the participation of women in the worlds of innovation and intellectual property, left us ambivalent. On the one hand, the study states that women are reducing the technological gap with men, and in recent decades, more and more women have obtained patents for their inventions. On the other hand, the gap is still significant, and it will take many years to achieve gender equality. At the current rate, the report states that we will close the gender gap in everything related to filing international patent applications (PCT) in “just” four decades.
Incidentally, these data correspond with another historical figure that tells the story of women and innovation—far fewer women receive Nobel Prizes in science than men. As of 2023, only 64 women out of 1,000 winners have received the prestigious award, or 6.4%. Moreover, most of the winners won the Nobel Prizes for Peace and Literature, and only 25 women won Nobel Prizes in science. One woman, Marie Curie, won the award twice. We will return to her later.
Improvement in historical perspective
The most important statistic that emerges from the report is that, from a historical perspective, there has been an improvement in the status of women inventors. Between 2000 and 2020, the number of patents in which at least one woman participated increased from less than 20% to more than 30%. The main increase observed is due to the rise in the share of mixed teams filing patents. The report also sheds light on women’s work habits, describing that women, in reality, tend to work alone or in mixed groups with men. Female teams made up of only female inventors are very rare.
Other points that emerge from the report indicate that women inventors are often concentrated in specific industries, such as biotechnology and chemistry, with an emphasis on food and pharmaceuticals. In fields such as mechanical engineering and software, there are distinctly fewer female inventors, and they are found more in academia (21%) than in the private sector (14%).
Another encouraging statistic states that the growth rate of female innovation is on the rise, especially in the last five years. At the same time, unfortunately, this pace is not enough. Given the current growth rate, we will reach parity in 37 years - as mentioned, in 2061.
Therefore, the picture is mixed. There is progress, and it is welcome, but it is too slow. This means that it is not possible to wait for the gradual maturation of social processes, and real action must be taken to speed them up.
The gender gap in Israeli hi-tech tells the story
And what is happening in Israel? Unfortunately, due to a lack of data on the inventor’s gender, there is still no data on intellectual property and gender in Israel, and the Patent Authority only recently began investigating the gender gap. However, the assumption is that the situation in Israel is not fundamentally different from the rest of the world.
At the same time, to obtain an indication of our situation, it is possible to observe it from another point of view: the examination of the gender gap in the Israeli technological ecosystem.
According to the 2020 Innovation Authority report, regarding gender equality, Israeli high-tech is not only lagging behind but also walking in place. Women make up only about a third of those employed in Israeli high-tech; unfortunately, this proportion has not increased over the years. In fact, at every stage of the path leading to working in the high-tech industry and then within the industry itself, women are a minority. More than that, the proportion of female founders of start-ups or partnerships in capital funds decreases as you go up in the senior ranks. Even in a global comparison against other innovation centers in the world, Israel is lagging with a low proportion of women—both in technological entrepreneurship and in the amount of capital they manage to raise.
Integrating women into management is essential for survival and fundraising
Beyond issues of values and equality, it is essential to understand that there is also an economic loss, which in the current climate is more important than ever and is not a privilege.
An IVC and Google for Start-ups Report published in 2023 brings up some enlightening data. For example, we see that the more heterogeneous a start-up’s group of founders is in terms of gender, the higher its chances of survival and ability to raise capital.
The report shows that the survival rate of start-up companies founded by women was significantly higher, and in 2002-2021, it was 53% compared to 51% among companies founded by men. However, the highest survival rate belongs to companies whose group of founders includes both women and men - 56%. The meaning is clear—women contribute significantly to the durability and strength of companies in which they reach key positions. Therefore, their integration should be of existential and distinct interest to all stakeholders in every company, in Israel and the world.
The data regarding the scope of the capital raising are even more impressive. The report states that mixed-gender teams raised more money than teams made up of only men (on average over the years 2012-2022). The data speaks for itself, so no further words are required about the need to include women or the disadvantage of all-male teams.
Active action is required
If so, what conclusion emerges from our review? Although progress has been made in reducing gender gaps in science and technology, the gaps are still large. Too large. The pace of change is also unsatisfactory, and no one has the patience to wait until 2061 to close the gaps, for example, in patents. Likewise, the post-war Israeli economy does not have the privilege of giving up a resource that will help the survival of companies. The bottom line is that given the female potential for the world of innovation, we do not have the right to wait, certainly not in Israel in 2024.
What did Marie Curie say? “I never look at the work I’ve done. I always only see what still needs to be done.”
So what should be done? In our opinion, it is necessary to act on several levels simultaneously. First, we need to act educationally and informatively to encourage girls, and then women, to enter the fields of science and technology and advance within technological and scientific organizations. The more motivated women will be, and the more success stories and inspiring women will be before their eyes, the more women will enter the employment circles in science, technology, and hi-tech.
In addition, since the state should understand that this is a significant economic-national interest, it should provide incentives to employers for gender diversity and act decisively against discrimination in wages and employment conditions, both at the legislative level and in enforcement.
The last and most important part is up to us, the women. As with any problem, the first step is the awareness that a problem exists. We need to read the data in front of us with open eyes and understand that we all have the responsibility to change the sad reality, which is in our power to do. Whether by demanding to be mentioned as an inventor when we were involved in the invention, setting ourselves a future goal to integrate into key positions, or by demanding to be involved in raising capital to increase the chances of success of the company you work for. The data supports you. And a word to the women who “made it.” The responsibility of being mentors to the next generation and being a personal example of success is enormous, but it is a shared responsibility that we must bear wholeheartedly.
The war in Gaza proved even more strongly what we have known for a long time—contrary to outdated or dark opinions, women prove time and time again that they are no less capable than men, integrate well into all elite combat units, and bring about significant achievements. Israeli society must internalize this lesson and apply it to all areas of life, especially innovation.
Dr. Esther Luzzatto is a patent attorney and CEO of The Luzzatto Group, Israel’s oldest intellectual property and patent group. Adv. Tamar Luzzatto is the head of business development and marketing in the group.