Women Inventors
If asked to name a woman inventor, could you? They are out there but male inventors have dominated for years. Until about 1840, only about 20 patents were issued to women. One speculation as to why so few women received patents has to do with women’s legal status in the 19th century. Because they had few legal rights, they would not stand to gain from the sale of any patent; those who did have worthy ideas tended to take out the patent under the names of their husband’s or father’s.