Inattentive Statistical Analysis

Here’s a wild stab in the dark. It’s just me grabbing some Australian data and extrapolating to beyond what would seem reasonably minded. But it’s the vibe of the thing that counts.

The current data on the percentage of female students doing post-graduate university studies in Australia is:

Natural and Physical Sciences – 49%
Information Technology – 25%
Engineering and Related Technologies – 21%

Now my guess is that current patent filings are roughly 20% from Natural & Physical Sciences, and 40% from each of IT and Engineering (reflecting 21st century technology business growth patterns).

This is rough but if we assume it is true, then from the participation rate of women in post-graduate degrees (as a proxy for people likely to be inventors on patents) we would expect women to represent around 28% of inventors on patent filings in Australia.

Oddly enough, this is pretty close to the actual figure. Dodgy I know; it doesn’t take into account all the nutty inventors, the time lag of patenting, etc etc. But the numbers are about right.

This would suggest that women who do enter into fields where invention is part of the work discipline are as inventive as their male colleagues.

The unknowable is whether one can extrapolate this to all folks of a gender.

For example, are the women that do enter into tech fields (where invention is part of the work discipline) naturally more inventive than those that don’t?

Or are all women (or people) equally inventive by nature, but are those that enter tech fields (where invention is part of the work discipline) simply those that learn to become practically inventive?

Ah, this is where we wheel in the philosophers, the French and the cognitive psychologists and let them argue for the next twenty years. And not an invention among them.

In an unrelated thread, could we claim that women are being denied access to the right to invent? (chortle over the keyboard)

Only if their personal choices not to enter certain sorts of degrees are also considered a denial of rights (say, due to cruel and unnecessary early-life Barbie doll indoctrination).

Oddly enough, Australian universities are turning themselves inside out to attract more women into engineering degrees, with very little success.

Therefore I would say that this is more of a voluntary denial of opportunities, rather than a denial of rights. And probably quite a sane one at that.