This brief describes the challenges and facilitators to success that women inventors face at each stage of the process. It first discusses the systemic barriers to innovation and patenting faced by women, women’s lack of formal education on the patenting process, informal education on patenting and the importance of mentors, and gatekeepers to patenting. Then the brief details how barriers to the patenting process, and the supports women need to overcome them, differ by industry and sector. It concludes with policy and program recommendations that, if implemented, will help promote diversity in the innovation and patenting process. Watch the related panel discussion with women inventors, and Institute for Women’s Policy Research presents their research on the challenges women inventors face based on gender and race and how to overcome them. For more information, visit https://inventtogether.org/