Abstract

Innovation and creativity go a long way in ensuring the growth of the society. Humans are innovative and creative beings and both men and women are equally talented. Society has always benefitted from women’s work. But sadly, women across the world remain under- represented with respect to a lot of creations, innovations and intellectual property. Women have been facing a lot of inequality and discrimination in the field of intellectual property. They are not welcomed in the fields of science, technology, intellectual property and research with open arms. Although the situation has improved quite a lot in comparison to the earlier times, the progress is extremely slow and therefore, needs to become rapid. This research paper tries to throw some light on the concept of innovation and creativity and their relationship with intellectual property along with exploring some of the major reasons which are hindrance for women’s success in the field of intellectual property. The paper alsofocuses on the statistics regarding women’s participation and success in IP and traces some history regarding the inherent gender gap.

Keywords: women, inequality, gender, intellectual property, innovation, creativity.

Innovation, Creativity and Intellectual Property

We have grown up listening to the statement “Change is the only constant”. This is necessary as nothing can remain static for a long time otherwise, everything would come to a halt. For the evolution of the mankind, it is necessary to constantly grow and progress which is only possible by undergoing changes.

Innovation and creativity are one of the major changes and reasons behind the progress of the mankind[1]. When simply put, innovation entails making and inventing new products or means to do or achieve something while on the other hand, creativity means and includes the tendency and ability to discover something new or come up with skillful ideas or imagination. Innovative and creative stuff like music, drawings, paintings and other pieces of art, since time immemorial, have been at the forefront for expressing the deepest desires and feelings of people. Innovations and creativeness also have economic aspect attached to them as they help in reaping a lot of profit. It is for these reasons that it becomes all the more important to preserve them and the intellectual property (IP) system is an excellent way to preserve them. IP rights and system protect a wide variety of rights regarding innovations and creativity.

Women’s ingenuity and Intellectual Property

IP is no doubt the most important intangible asset a person or an organisation possesses orcan possess and is a huge source of profit for businesses these days.Due to this reason, people strive to protect their creations and almost every country has enacted IP laws for the same. IP laws enable people to enjoy a vast variety of benefits. People have the right to exercise control over their innovations and ideas by getting their IPs registered after satisfying all the pre-requisites. People are refrained from using other people’s ideas and innovations without their authorization. But, unfortunately, the usage of IP system is not uniform be it within a country or across different countries. While on one hand, some countries are witnessing a huge increment in the usage of IP and the filing of applications regarding the registration of IP, a vast majority of countries are lagging behind[2].

Disparity also exists regarding the usage of IP when it comes to gender[3]. Although both men and women are equally innovative and creative and have contributed substantively towards the growth and progress of the society, there exists a huge gap when it comes to the using of the IP system.

History is the biggest evidence of discrimination against women in the field of creations, development and ingenuity. Women have always been restricted from taking up creative professions like art, music, designing, science, technology as these were restricted to men only. Even the IP and other laws of the earlier times were quite discriminatory as they didn’t used to recognize women’s work and allow them to get rights with respect to their creations and inventions. As a matter of fact, women’s creations used to get registered in the names of their fathers, brothers, husbands, sons or other male relatives. For instance, Sybilla Masters developed a way to process Indian corn in 1715 which subsequently got recorded in the form of a patent document[4]. But the patent rights were issued to her husband as according to the laws of that time, women could not own property[5]. Another instance is of Clara Schumann, a distinguished pianist and composer, who did not get much recognition for her work and was deemed as her husband’s helper[6].

Women are an integral part of any society or organisation. They make up half of the world’s total population [7]. The fact that women have made significant contributions is not hidden from anyone. Women have broken all the chains and “glass ceilings” to achieve anything and everything. Since time immemorial, mankind has benefited from women’s creations. But unfortunately, women do not get the required amount of recognition and respect for their efforts and contributions as much as their male counterparts get. Not many women have ownership rights and control over intellectual properties and not many women have IP registrations in their name these days[8]. Even though the situation has improved quite a lot as compared to before, the growth is extremely slow and it needs to buckle up[9].

[1]Dariusz Prokopowicz, ‘The role of creativity and innovation in human life and development of civilization?’ (ResearchGate) <https://www.researchgate.net/post/The-role-of-creativity-and-innovation-in-human-life-and- development-of-civilization> accessed 21 March 2023

[2]‘World IntellectualProperty Indicators Report: Worldwide Trademark Filing Soars in2020 Despite Global Pandemic’             (World   Intellectual          Property              Organisation,     8             November               2021)

<https://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/articles/2021/article_0011.html>accessed23March2023

[3]GenderEquality,DiversityandIntellectualProperty’(WorldIntellectualPropertyOrganisation)

<https://www.wipo.int/women-and-ip/en/>accessed20March2023

[4]PruBarrett,‘SybillaRightonMasters(c1676–1720)’(MillsArchive,3November2020)

<https://new.millsarchive.org/2020/11/03/sybilla-righton-masters-c-1676-1720/>accessed21March2023

[5]DanL. Burk,‘Bridging the gendergapinintellectualproperty’(WorldIntellectual PropertyOrganisation, April 2018) <https://www.wipo.int/wipo_magazine/en/2018/02/article_0001.html> accessed 21 March 2023

[6]ThomasMay,‘ClaraSchumann,Music’sUnsungRenaissanceWoman’(TheNewYorkTimes,28August 2019) <https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/28/arts/music/clara-schumann.html> accessed 21 March 2023

[7]Half Of The World’s Population Are Women And Not Even One-Eighth Make It To The Leadership Roles’ (BWBusinessworld,23January2017)<https://www.businessworld.in/article/-Half-Of-The-World-s-Population-

[8]Barrett(n5)

[9]Vishwom S Revankar, ‘Women in Intellectual Property Addressing the Gender Gap’ (2022) 5(6) IJLMH< https://www.ijlmh.com/paper/women-in-intellectual-property-addressing-the-gender-gap/> accessed 20 March 2023