Basically the answer is that there a fewer women in STEM related fields, but the article is interesting because it expands on the consequences of holding patents for entrepreneurship. While women own 36% of all businesses in the US, only 3% of venture capital goes to women owned companies. Holding a patent makes a firm more attractive to venture capital and is a strong predictor of success.
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/07/the-patent-gap/492065/
Another important fact is that VCs only invest in the highest growth companies – and these do tend to be companies with patents. (Though not all fast-growing companies have patents.) A lot of the businesses that women own are so-called “lifestyle businesses.” –
These may grow – and even become multi-million dollar ventures – but they do not have the 10X – 20X ROI that VCs expect to get in 3 to 5 years. I’m not convinced that this is the most important measure of success for any entrepreneur, male or female.