Abstract

This paper critically examines the intersection of gender, technology, and law through the lens of women's participation in the formulation and evolution of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) laws in India. Traditionally, women’s engagement with lawmaking has been more pronounced in areas directly impacting them, such as family law or criminal law. However, contemporary knowledge-based economies increasingly require equitable participation in domains such as IPR, where creativity, innovation, and ownership of knowledge play a central role. The study investigates whether women have been active participants in IPR lawmaking, reform, and enforcement processes and explores the barriers they face in engaging with these legal regimes. Using feminist legal methodology, the paper analyzes parliamentary debates, committee reports, and government initiatives, including a focused study on the questions raised by women parliamentarians. The findings reveal that while there is emerging political and institutional intent to promote women's involvement in innovation ecosystems, actual gender-sensitive legislative discourse on IPR remains limited. Further, the structural design of IPR regimes may itself be gendered, disproportionately excluding women’s contributions—particularly in traditional knowledge, handicrafts, and informal entrepreneurship—from formal recognition and protection. The paper argues for greater gender mainstreaming in IPR policymaking and emphasizes the need for inclusive data collection, awareness, and institutional reform to bridge the gender gap in intellectual property law.

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