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Gender disparities persist in several areas of society and scientific research is no exception. This study describes the evolution of the place of women in Russian science from 1973 to 2012, in terms of published research output, research productivity, international and national collaboration, and scientific impact, taking into account the socioeconomic, political and historic context of the country, which was marked by the fall of the USSR in 1991. The results show that gender parity is far from being achieved. Women remain underrepresented in terms of their contribution to research output and scientific impact in almost all disciplines, with Mathematics and Physics, research areas in which Russia is specialized, having the largest gap. Men and women show different collaboration patterns on the national and international level, whereas women are preeminent on the national scene, men are on the international one. Although the impact of women’s scientific output significantly increases after the fall of the USSR, the gap between both genders remains stable over time for most of the disciplines. As a result, this increase cannot be interpreted as an improvement of the women’s relative influence in Russian science, but rather an improvement of Russian science impact in general.

The survey report was commissioned by Research Councils UK (RCUK) and the Science and Engineering Research Board of India (SERB) as a contribution to the Global Research Council (GRC) Annual Meeting in Delhi, 26-27 May 2016. As funders of research, GRC participants have the opportunity to influence the development of the research landscape by adopting and implementing policies which aim to redress gender imbalances and inequalities in research. The report provides an overview of the gender equality policies and practice of a selection of GRC participants, identified through a combination of desk based analysis and interviews. It also presents a summary of practice in each of the five GRC regions: Africa, Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe and Middle East/North Africa (MENA).

This review forms part of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s programme to develop a set of evidence-based anti-poverty strategies for the UK. The remit was to identify and analyse evidence on the links between gender and poverty, and possible reasons for them; and to examine the impact on these links of specific policies and overall policy approaches. On the basis of the findings, the review was to make recommendations for gender-oriented measures to prevent and tackle poverty linked to gender and highlight any gaps in the evidence base. The review did not cover sexual orientation or family structure, as these were the subjects of separate reviews. 

The report draws on JRF’s definition of poverty: when a person’s resources (mainly material resources) are insufficient to meet their minimum needs (including social participation). Poverty has many aspects besides the material. But if that core is ignored, it becomes impossible to separate poverty from other broader conditions such as lack of wellbeing.

Gender is defined as a constituent element of social relations based on perceived differences between the sexes, and as a primary signifier of power creating unequal access to resources. It is societal and structural in nature.

Research has shown that women’s access to resources and opportunities is typically narrower and more constrained than that of men. This report examines the latest evidence to ascertain whether this is still the case (though evidence on the relationship between men/masculinities and poverty is hard to come by). The analytic approach adopted also has a commitment to considering intersectionality – other differences and inequalities cutting across gender and poverty.

At first glance, the links between gender and poverty seem obvious. Women have poorer labour market attachment, tend to head poverty-prone households and have less ‘human capital’. But these are characteristics of individual lives, rather than explanations. Underlying them is the gendered nature of the processes leading to poverty and potential routes out of it. Poverty viewed through a gender lens therefore requires an examination of social and economic relations, and institutions. 

Age is one cross-cutting factor affecting the links between gender and poverty. More boys are excluded from school; more are in care; and far more boys than girls are in young offender institutions. However, girls make up the majority of young people not in employment, education or training, many because of caring for others. Incorporating older people into the poverty figures generally increases the difference between women and men, although this varies by country, and the UK has seen a steep decline in pensioner poverty since 2000, in particular amongst single women. For a more complete and accurate picture, therefore, it is necessary to look inside the household, and in particular to explore the gender factors implicated in the poverty of couples. 

This research focuses on the participation of U.S. based women entrepreneurs in Patents and Trademarks activity. Using data obtained from the United States Patents and Trademarks Office, the study probes, in-depth, the number of patents and trademarks obtained by women entrepreneurs as well as the concomitant gender gap for the period 1975-2010. Commercially available data on the most common names for men and women was used to net 94.11% of the patents granted in a given year. Particular attention was paid to include uncommon names of Chinese, Korean, Indian, Japanese and European origin to ensure that the contributions of immigrant U.S. based women were not overlooked. Both primary and non-primary patentees were examined. The contributions of women entrepreneurs in specific industries were segmented and analyzed. Differences in the rates at which patents and trademarks are assigned by men and women to companies were studied.

Several significant conclusions may be drawn from this research:

1. U.S. based women demonstrate increasing leadership in patent and trademark activities. It should be noted that this report summarizes results only for patentees and trademark holders and theses terms do not always connote entrepreneurship.

2. The number of patents granted to women is significantly higher than those reported in earlier studies. Importantly, the number of patents granted to women is increasing at an accelerating pace.

   The number of patents granted to women increased by approximately 34.72% from 2009 to 2010. In the same period (2009 to 2010), the number of primary patents granted to women increased by 28.57% and the number of non-primary patents granted to women increased by 38.23%. In this report, the first name on a patent disclosure is assumed to be the

   “primary” patent holder. Subsequent names are assumed to be “non-primary” patent holders. The USPTO does not classify “primary” and “non-primary” patentees this way. Sometimes, the names are just listed alphabetically.

3. The highest sustained rate of increase in the grant of U.S. patents to women was in the 1986-1993 period.

4. The slowest rate of increase in patents granted to women was in the 1999-2006 period.

5. The total number of patents obtained by women shows an accelerating rate of increase with time. Similarly, there is an accelerating rate at which women become primary inventors as judged by the first name on a patent disclosure. This suggests an increasing leadership by women entrepreneurs in R&D activities. 

6. Of particular interest is the surge of innovation by women in some of the emerging high-tech industries. The field of optics and optical systems was selected to illustrate this observation. For instance, 11.55% of patents in Optical Waveguides had at least 1 woman inventor.

7. The participation of women in Trademark activity as measured by the percentage of Trademarks granted has more than doubled in the period between 1980 to 2010, from approximately 16.5% in 1980 to more than 33% in 2010.

8. Women have a significantly higher participation in Trademark activity as compared to Patent activity. For instance, whereas women received approximately 18% of all patents granted in the year 2010, the contribution of women to Trademark activity was more than 33%.

9. The ratio of successful women patent applicants to successful men patent applicants varies from a low of 73.36% in 1986 to a high of 93.57% in 2002.

10. There is no statistically measurable difference in the proportion of successful women Trademark applicants and successful men Trademark applicants. The analysis shows no bias in the processing of trademark applications. The reasons for the apparent differences in IP protection activity between men and women must be sought in employment patterns, R &D opportunities, and perceptions of risk and reward.