Gender and innovation through an intersectional lens: Re‐imagining academic entrepreneurship in the United States

Abstract

How to study inequality in innovation? Often, the focus has been gender gaps in patenting. Yet much is missing from our understanding of gendered inequality in innovation with this focus. This review discusses how gender and innovation are intertwined in durable academic inequalities and have implications for who is served by innovation. It summarizes research on gender and race gaps in academic entrepreneurship (including patenting), reasons for those longstanding inequities, and concludes with discussing why innovation gaps matter, including the need to think critically about academic commercialization. And while literature exists on gender gaps in academic entrepreneurship and race gaps in patenting, intersectional analyses of innovation are missing. Black feminist theorists have taught us that gender and race are overlapping and inseparable systems of oppression.We cannot accurately understand inequality in innovation without intersectionality, so this is a serious gap in current research. Intersectional research on gender and innovation is needed across epistemic approaches and methods. From understanding discrimination in academic entrepreneurship to bringing together critical analyses of racial capitalism and academic capitalism, there is much work to do.

The Education Impact on the Innovativeness of Female Entrepreneurship: A Systematic Literature Review

“…These researches refer generically to the concept of innovation in the context of a business organization, without specifying its type, source, or mode of implementation Exposito et al, 2023;Gaies et al, 2023;Mickey and Smith-Doerr, 2022.…”

Examining the minimal combined effects of gender and minoritized racial/ethnic identity among academic entrepreneurs

“…For example, rather than assume that the implications of identifying with a minoritized racial/ethnic group in a particular context will be similar for both men and women, an intersectional approach starts from the assumption that individuals with each combination of gender and racial/ethnic identity will have unique experiences (Essers et al, 2010). While research in entrepreneurship has considered the influence of intersecting racial/ethnic, gender, social class, and religious identities (Dy and Agwunobi, 2019;Romero and Valdez, 2016;Vorobeva, 2022), only a few studies have focused on academic entrepreneurship, specifically (Jackson et al, 2022;Mickey and Smith-Doerr, 2022;Nelson, 2020). One focusing on women of color found that barriers to program effectiveness included institutional hurdles, negative interpersonal interactions during instruction, and challenges to entrepreneurial identity (Jackson et al, 2022).…”

Women and Innovation: The Missing Link

“…The emphasis on research conducted by more than one individual in an interdependent fashion has led to the concept of team science and focused research on the group dynamics of scientific teams working towards a common objective (Hall et al 2018;National Research Council 2015). This, in turn, generated empirical research on the impact of gender on innovation activities related to software development (Ortu et al 2017), small businesses (Zastempowski & Cyfert 2021), and academic entrepreneurship (Mickey & Smith-Doerr 2022). Ethnicity, on the other hand, has received scant attention since it is difficult to assess with publicly available data.…”