Tournament: UK Season Opener | Round: 2 | Opponent: Thomas Edison EnergySmart Charter VG | Judge: Fain, Michael
Worldwide, patents are disproportionately held by men.
Clara Guibourg, 10-2-2019, "Why are so few women inventors named on patents?," BBC News, https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-49843990
Women inventors account
their patent approved.
When women are able to obtain patents, one of the main fields they concentrate in is pharmaceuticals.
Cutura, J. (2019, July). Challenges for Women Inventors and Innovators in Using the Intellectual Property System - A Literature Review. https://www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/ip-development/en/agenda/pdf/literature_review.pdf.
Looking at the
elements; and transport.
This lack of female inventors means women’s health is underrepresented in the biomedical field.
Claudia LóPez Lloreda June 17, 2021, 6-17-2021, "Gender bias in patents may mean less biomedical innovation for women," STAT, https://www.statnews.com/2021/06/17/gender-bias-toward-men-patents-less-biomedical-innovation-women-study
The study, published
all-male teams
Innovation is key to improve women’s health.
CB Insights Research, 11-13-2018, "How Innovative Women's Health Technology Changes Healthcare," https://www.cbinsights.com/research/report/womens-health-technology-transforming/
Innovations in women’s
long-overdue makeover.
Intellectual property rights are key to innovation.
Bacchus 2020 James, CATO.org "An Unnecessary Proposal: A WTO Waiver of Intellectual Property Rights for COVID-19 Vaccines" Free Trade Bulletin No. 78, Dec. 16, https://www.cato.org/free-trade-bulletin/unnecessary-proposal-wto-waiver-intellectual-property-rights-covid-19-vaccines
The primary justification
thus less innovation.
The impact to this is gender inequality in the healthcare system, resulting in lower standards of care for everyone.
Katherine Hay 2019, "Disrupting gender norms in health systems: making the case for change," PubMed Central (PMC), https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7233290
Health services prioritise
a population level.