Application of Gender Mainstreaming Policy in Patenting Aiming to Achieve Sustainable Development in Iran

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Professor of Private and Islamic Law, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

2 Master of Intellectual Property Law, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Generally, patent activities could result in the dissemination of knowledge and an increase in the level of innovation. The gender gap throughout the patent process has existed for a long time in all countries. Despite women's access to more employment and educational opportunities in recent decades, the gap has narrowed but has not gotten eliminated. Considering that no law is neutral from social or gender presumptions, intellectual property laws would not be an exception to this rule. Identifying the direct and indirect factors that sometimes exist in procedures or other laws such as passport, civil, and labor laws makes it possible to reduce the severity of the gender gap and its consequences through practical solutions. These proposed solutions include: granting permission to female inventors to travel (those married women facing the travel ban), statistical transparency of inventors by classifying them based on gender and sexes, and implementing Gender budgeting to reduce the severity of the gender gap. These solutions would make the path towards sustainable development smoother both economically and socially. The quantitative and qualitative examination is only a necessary condition (and not a sufficient condition) to achieve the goal of gender equality. The ultimate goal of countries for sustainable development is not only to grant non-discriminatory patents to both sexes but also to facilitate the process of obtaining facilities and attracting investors without gender discrimination in the post-patent stages.

Keywords

References

1- Burk, Dan L. "Do patents have gender." Am. UJ Gender Sociology, Policy and Law, Vol.19, 2011.
2- de Melo-Martín I. Patenting and the gender gap: should women be encouraged to patent more? Sci Eng Ethics. 2013, pp. 491-504.
3- Iranpour, Farhad, Tabatabaei Nejad, S. Mohammad, A New Approach to Intellectual Property Rights, Rokhdad-e-No, 2015 [In Persian].
4- Frietsch, Rainer, Inna Haller, Melanie Funken-Vrohlings, and Hariolf Grupp. "Gender-specific Patterns in Patenting and Publishing." Research policy 38, no. 4, 2009, pp. 590-599.
5- Gearhart-Serna, Terra L. "Women's Work, Women's Knowing: Intellectual Property and the Recognition of Women's Traditional Knowledge." Yale JL & Feminism, vol.21, 2009, pp.372-404.
6- Hunt, Jennifer et al., Why Don't Women Patent?, No. w17888, National Bureau of Economic Research, 2012.
7- Intellectual Property and Women Entrepreneurs: Qualitative Analysis. United States: National Women's Business Council, 2012.
8- International World Bank, About Women, Business and the Law, Women, Business and the Law, 2018.
9- Javaheri, Fatemeh, Report on the Social Status of Iranian Women between the years 2001 and 2011, Ney Publication, Third edition, 2016 [In Persian].
10- Lai, Jessica C. "Patents and Gender: A Contextual Analysis." Queen Mary Journal of Intellectual Property, Vol.10, No. 3,2020,pp. 283–305.
11- Momeni Rad, Ahmad, Behboudi Kalhori, Sanaz, Investigating the impact of Affirmative Action on women's employment in Iranian law, The Journal of Public Law Research, First year edition, Vol. 3, 2017 [In Persian].
12- Nyberg, Ann-Christin. "Making Ideas matter: gender, technology and women's invention." PhD diss., Luleå tekniska universitet, 2009.
13- Samandar Ali Eshtehardi, et al., Gender Gap in Patenting Activities: Evidence from Iran. Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy, 2015.
14- Shlomit, Yanisky-Ravid, Eligible Patent Matter-Gender Analysis of Patent Law: International and Comparative Perspectives, The American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law, 2011, Vol.19, pp.810-851.
15- WIPO, Share of Women Inventors Increasing but Gap Remain, https://www.wipo.int/women-and-ip/en/news/2020/news_0001.html - :~:text=Preliminary WIPO statistics reveal that,to 18.7 percent in 2019.(Visit Date: 2020-11-10)
Iranian Journal of Public Policy
Volume 8, Issue 4
2023
Pages 93-106

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics