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By Sabreena Bari, Amanda Foley and Rita Sau Ping Davies
International Women’s Day gives us the perfect opportunity to reflect on the contributions that women have made in their households, communities and workplaces, to consider and celebrate the strides that have been made in working towards parity — and the work still left to do.
It should be in no doubt that women deserve to be at every table, not laying it.
So, what holds us back? In the light of this year’s theme for International Women’s Day, ‘Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world’, how significantly has COVID-19 damaged what progress we have made? And what role are women playing in shaping the post-COVID-19 world?
Throughout history, women have challenged the dominant attitudes of their contemporary societies — think Eleanor of Aquitaine, Clara Schumann, Charlotte Bronte et al — but unsurprisingly their feats have only really been recognised since women’s suffrage and work toward equality began to gain real traction in the late 19th century.
The evolution of the female inventor is illustrative of that progression. Historically, inventions produced by women were protected by or attributed to husbands, fathers and employers until towards the end of the 19th century.
From that point on, women as innovators and inventors became more visible; and the achievements of women like Marie Curie (double Nobel prize winner) and Margaret Knight, who patented around 20 inventions during the 19th century, for a paper-bag machine, a rotary engine and a shoe cutting machine, amongst others, began to be celebrated.
And as the 20th century progressed, the numbers of women patenting inventions and establishing copyright assignment steadily increased, no doubt in response to the example laid by the pioneering women of the past.
But still there remains a significant gap between the number of patent applications submitted by women and those submitted by men. Female scientists are less than half as likely to obtain a patent for their research as their male colleagues. Between 1998 and 2017, the proportion of female inventors on a worldwide basis increased from 6.8% to 12.7%, and any increase is, of course, fantastic. But the proportions remain a long way away from parity, and that is despite the increasing numbers of women entering employment in STEM fields. Although it is more difficult to assess the situation regarding copyright assignment, anecdotal evidence suggests that the situation there is more or less the same.
Outside of the IP world, women’s suffrage means that women like Katherine Graham (the first CEO of a Fortune 500 company in 1972), Junko Tabei (the first woman to reach the top of Mount Everest in 1975), Vigdis Finnbogadottir (a divorced, single mother who became the first woman to be elected as a head of state in Iceland in 1980), and Carol Ann Duffy (the first woman to be appointed poet laureate of Great Britain in 2009) were not only able to take the steps required to excel in their fields, but also that we are aware of it.
Yet it must be acknowledged that women are still under-represented domestically, publicly and professionally.
According to Business Insider, around 8% of fortune 500 companies are led by a female CEO, and although the number of women amongst the high-ranking senior executives (those in the C-suite) increased in the 5 years between 2015 and 2020, the proportion stands at just 21%.[1]
And what of those women that choose to start their own businesses? Around 1 in 5 of the businesses run in the UK are run by women, but they only receive around 9% of all funding awarded to UK start-ups.[2] Although the 20th century saw a rapid rise in the number of women participating in labour markets, we still accounted for less than 40% of the total labour force as of 2019[3], with health and social care, wholesale and retail, and education as the most common sectors for women’s employment.
Perhaps none of this comes as much of a surprise, because most of us, man or woman, have experienced gender bias in one way or another, whether at work, in public or at home.
At least one of us, in a past pre-Inngot job, has delivered a pitch to investors and sat there while the investors directed all their questions to her male colleague, who had taken no part in the presentation.
That gender bias may be as a result of inherent psychological barriers, outright sexism in others and learned behaviours, manifesting itself in the inability by some to take a woman seriously.
Most women experience some level of sexism at home – for example, the assumption that women will be responsible for childcare and maintenance of the home (“What’s for dinner, love?”).
This may be an unpopular view, but perhaps we women should also accept some of the responsibility for the perpetuation of those views and attitudes because it doesn’t occur to us, or we actively choose not to challenge those views, for one reason or another. Or maybe our own fear of failure or inability to recognise our own strength holds us back.
Whatever the cause, the onset of the pandemic certainly hasn’t helped.
A year on from the start of the pandemic that took over all our lives, there have been damaging setbacks to women in particular. COVID-19 has revealed and, to an extent, intensified long-term problems and created new ones[4]. Much of the inspiring progress that has been made over the past decades has been compromised and may take years to recover to the pre-pandemic stance.
The reality of this COVID induced ‘she-cession’ is backed by various studies and reports. In the UK women’s earnings have declined by 12.9%, nearly double the reduction men have seen[5].
The main factors contributing to this figure are simple. Women make up a high proportion of the workforce in low-income sectors such as retail and hospitality which have been hit hardest. And there is an assumption that, when they are ‘Working From Home’, they will also take on more care-giving roles and be responsible for home schooling.
In the US one in four women are considering downshifting their careers, taking a leave of absence or leaving the workforce altogether due to the pandemic[6], according to an ongoing study by McKinsey & Company. In fact, in the past five years of the study, this is the first time we have seen signs of women leaving the workplace at higher rates than men.
It truly is a mixed bag when it comes to looking at women and the progress and setbacks during the pandemic
There are some positives. Normalising work from home opens up opportunities particularly for mothers, caregivers, and people with disabilities, by allowing more flexibility in work-life balance and potentially giving men a greater appreciation of what women do while they are at home.
In fact, discussing the negative impact of the pandemic has allowed us to shine a greater light on issues that have surrounded equality pre-COVID. Companies and even NGOs have improved their policies on equality and also their delivery. Unfortunately, in the UK at least, the Government appears to be somewhat behind in solutions to address the equality related aspects of the virus.
However, these positives do not out-weigh the negatives.
The commitment is more important than ever right now. If companies rise to the challenge with the right actions, they can protect hard-earned gains in gender diversity and set foundations for a #balanceforbetter world post COVID-19.
The outstanding women discussed in this piece (and many more we haven’t mentioned) remind us of the contributions women have made in science and technology. Their inventions have connected, cured, and provided convenience for humanity. Without such inventions, it is hard to imagine what the world would be like today!
Determination, faith, and hard work will continue to lead the way to #balanceforbetter for all of us. We can overcome these challenges together.
US Vice President Kamala Harris quotes her mother: “You may be the first to do many things, but make sure you’re not the last.”
Have you got any intellectual property or intangible assets such as trademarks, copyright, non-registered rights, know-how, patents, relationships etc. that could have value? To celebrate inspirational and innovative women everywhere, we are offering a 15% discount off our online valuation tools (Sollomon and Sollomon2) to all women who contact us by 5pm on Friday 12th March 2021 . Please get in contact with us on 0333 8008090 or info@inngot.com for your discount code. Keep your eyes peeled for our discount offer to celebrate International Men’s Day in November.
[1] 30 Nov 2020, https://www.businessinsider.com/women-fortune-500-ceos-reaches-new-high-2020-11?r=US&IR=T#:~:text=Despite%20the%20recent%20progress%2C%20roughly,the%20CEO%20of%20Yum%20China.
[2] March 2019, The 5 barriers to women in Business
[3] Feb 2021, Women in the Workforce, https://www.catalyst.org/research/women-in-the-workforce-global/
[4] https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/newslondon/covid-women-and-the-e2-80-98shecession-e2-80-99-how-the-pandemic-has-created-a-new-battle-for-equality/ar-BB1dUqWc
[5] https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/newslondon/covid-women-and-the-e2-80-98shecession-e2-80-99-how-the-pandemic-has-created-a-new-battle-for-equality/ar-BB1dUqWc
[6] https://wiw-report.s3.amazonaws.com/Women_in_the_Workplace_2020.pdf
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
