Here's Why It's a Bad Thing For Women's Health That There Are So Few Women Inventors
Cross posted in Women’s Issues.
MacArthur Genius and MIT professor Linda Griffith has built an epic career as a scientist and inventor, including growing a human ear on a mouse.
She now spends her days unpacking the biological mechanisms underlying endometriosis, a condition in which uterus-like tissue grows outside of the uterus. Endometriosis can be brutally painful, is regularly misdiagnosed and misunderstood, and has affected Griffith's life along with the lives of over 6 million other women in the U.S.
Griffith's research and inventions have the potential to improve women's health dramatically. The problem for women is that she stands out for another reason: She's female.
In 2020, only 12.8 percent of U.S. inventors receiving patents were women, and historically male researchers have ignored conditions like endometriosis.
Male researchers have tended to downplay or even outright overlook the medical needs of women.
The result is that innovation has focused mainly on what men choose to research. My colleagues John-Paul Ferguson, Sampsa Samila, and I show in a newly published study that patented biomedical inventions in the U.S. created by women are 35 percent more likely to benefit women's health than biomedical inventions created by men.
More
https://www.sciencealert.com/here-s-why-it-s-a-bad-thing-for-women-s-health-that-there-are-so-few-women-inventors
*** I have a bit of an issue with the headline, maybe it’s just me or does it make it sound like there are so few women inventors because not enough women have what it takes to go into medical science and research? If I’m off base, I will admit it.
= new reply since forum marked as read
... usually get co-opted by men in one way or another. When a woman has an original idea or invention, it won't be considered smart or clever until a man takes credit for it. Also men tend to fear originality in women unless it's something they can personally control or benefit from.
As far as women's health goes, it's more likely that male doctors would fail to understand or empathize with a women's complaint. Therefore the problem might be minimized rather than addressed or researched.
