Are you a fan of fire escapes? Stem cell isolation? A friendly game of Monopoly? Yes, you’ve guessed it: these inventions were all made and patented by women. In fact, the web is awash with feel-good lists of important inventions you should “thank” women for. The Hollywood starlet Hedy Lemarr was “not just a pretty face”, Scientific American reminds us; she was also a gifted inventor who paved the way for Wi-Fi.
Indeed, it is widely acknowledged by the internet that women are quite good at various things. Nevertheless, women only account for seven per cent of all inventors on patent applications in the UK. We shouldn’t feel too bad, though; in Germany it’s only five
per cent.
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