常识？知识产权意识的性别差异

CommonKnowledge?GenderDifferencesin IPRightsAwareness Carlotta Nani, Martin Alejandro Correa,Julio Raffo Common Knowledge?Gender differences in IP rights awareness Carlotta Nani, Martin Alejandro Correa, Julio Raffo1,2 March 2026 Abstract This paper examines gender disparities in intellectual property (IP) awareness and participation, usingthe 2023 and 2025 waves of the WIPO Pulse Survey conducted among 58,135 individuals acrossseventy-fourcountries. Our findings reveal that copyrights are the most recognized IP forms globally,while patents, trademarks and geographical indications remain the least familiar. At the individual level,women demonstrate lower knowledge of patents and trademarks, but greater knowledge of designsand copyrights compared to men, with these differences persisting after controlling for socioeconomicfactors. These patterns are consistent with gendered specialization ineducation, professional andhouseholdspheres where women tend to cluster in creative industries while men dominateentrepreneurship and technical sectors. Notably,we observe a cohort effect:while we identifysignificant differences in knowledge between men and women for older cohorts, these disappearamong younger cohorts. We do not observe comparable changes by level of education or occupationof respondents. Moreover, women exhibit more positive attitudes towards IP-protected products acrosscategories. These findings highlight the need for targeted awareness campaigns and revealthatgendered patterns of IP knowledge may contribute to innovation gender gaps through educationalpathways and professional specialization. Introduction In this paper, we investigate whether thereare differences in awareness aboutIntellectualProperty (IP) rights between men and women, using the 2023 and 2025 waves of the WIPOPulse Survey. IP rights are fundamental assets to promote innovation and therefore growth, as they ensurereturns for the time and resources employed in the creative and inventive process. Theycontribute to the consolidation of intangible assets for entrepreneurs, making innovation aninvestment rather than a liability (Toivanen and Väänänen, 2012; WIPO, 2020). Nevertheless,they remain a male dominated field,with women accounting for less than twenty percent oflisted inventors and creators in patents applications (WIPO, 2023; USCO, 2022; EUIPO, 2023).As ideas become harder to find, overlooking the potential of half the population leads to lostopportunities for innovation, lower ideas quality, and market segments left unexplored(Bloom et al., 2020; Hoisl et al., 2023; Koning et al., 2021). Women’s under-representation stems from a combination of individual choices and structuralbarriers. On the one hand, women may not engage in IP due to a lack of awareness or interest.Onthe other hand,they face systemic obstacles related to education,employmentopportunities, credit access, and recognition for their contributions (Carpentier et al., 2024).In this paper, we exploit a survey conducted with 58,135 individuals across seventy-fourcountries to investigate whetherthere are differences between men and women’s attitudesand perceptions about IP rights. The survey captures both objective knowledge (measuredthrough factual questions on IP rights) and self-reported awareness, allowing us to study bothactual and perceived familiarity with IP. Comparing objective and self-reported measures iscrucial, as individuals make decisions based on perceptions about their abilities:someonewho believes they know little about IP may self-select out of innovative professions, even ifthey possess relevant knowledge or skills (Bordalo, 2019; Nani, 2024). Our study reveals distinct geographical patterns in IP awareness and perceptions, with Europeand Latin America demonstrating the highest objective knowledge levels, while Asia and thePacificexhibit the highest subjective knowledge. Objective knowledge is positively correlatedwith country characteristics such as GDP per capita, economic complexity and the humancapital index. The relationship with women’s participation in inventing activitiesis almost flat,suggesting that awareness cannot be directly translated into usage, and structural barriersmight prevent women’s participation. In addition, we observe a Dunning-Krugereffect:countries with lower objective knowledge report higher subjective knowledge and morepositive perceptions towards IP. At the individual level, women report being less familiar with patents and designs comparedto men, and these differences remain significant even after controlling for socioeconomicfactors. This pattern persistsin objective knowledge measures: women are less likely to correctly answer questions about patents and trademarks but more likely to know aboutdesigns and copyrights. In addition, our results show that women have more positiveattitudes and perceptions towards products protected by IP rights. Thesefindingsalign withgendered patterns of specialization: women t