Depending on which part of the demographic you happen to be, you perhaps haven’t noticed that the vast majority of things are either designed with you in mind or for an entirely different kind of human. We’re talking, of course, about gendered design.
Someone asked “What female-centric design do you want to see in architecture and design?” and women shared their best ideas. From simple things like car headrests to literally medical procedures, women often get the short end of the stick. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites, and be sure to share your thoughts below.
You should not be able to look up through any floor or stair surface to look up anyone’s clothing in any public environment where some people may be wearing dresses/skirts instead of trousers. Any design that’s a built-in creep magnet to look up people’s clothes annoys me greatly.
Depending on who you are, it can be pretty hard to actually notice unless you have experienced it or have been told to look for it. Take the average gendered public bathroom. The male section will inevitably have a whole row or two of urinals, which makes it have significantly more capacity.
So while the female and male bathrooms might be of the same square footage, the male version can accommodate significantly more people doing their business. This is a classic case of “equal space” not actually being equal.
in public restrooms anywhere that toilet paper is provided. Dispensers should be a normal part of restroom design, like toilet paper holders.
I almost always have a tampon on me, but of course, the one time I don’t, I start my period days early while at a museum with no re-entry. Their restroom surprisingly had a tampon machine that required quarters; and I surprisingly actually had a quarter on me. I was like, “wow this is actually my lucky day”. Then guess what? The tampon machine ate my quarter and gave me nothing. Happily the museum staff provided me with a tampon when I told them what happened, but that was after having to leave the resteoom with toilet paper shoved in my pants.
So ever since then, I’m wondering why feminine products aren’t available and stocked like toilet paper in restrooms. It’s a basic hygiene issue and most women will only use the free stuff in an emergency anyway.
I want the design of medical solutions (anything from medicine to braces to even first aid courses or whatever) to be more inclusive for women. Many drugs are initially not tested on women, which can lead to them not discovering positive effects that the meds have on women but not men. The symptoms for heart attacks are different for women, so more women don’t get the proper help for a heart attack. It’s such a dark side of inequality.
Even worse, oftentimes items specifically intended for women end up being designed by men. These fall into two categories, items where the designer simply assumes a woman’s body is basically identical to a man’s or the designer simply follows trends and fads. In both cases, the product ends up being less functional than it should be.
In general, this issue can seem baffling at times. After all, most of us would assume that people who are somewhat different from us have different needs, expectations, and assumptions. This is perhaps why it’s always good to get a second (or even third) opinion whenever you can, you might just learn something new.
Shoes. Car seats. Sporting equipment. Tools. Working spaces. Safety equipment. Medications and medical procedures.
I went with my team for a customer visit recently and they gave us access badges with clips. The men clipped them to their suit jackets. The women among us in sweaters and blouses had to figure out where tf to clip them. Most companies hand out breakaway lanyards these days, which work for folks in any type of clothing. Just the most recent irritant I experienced where it was obvious women were not considered in their customer visit process development.
Also, white blouses. Don’t make them see through, thankyouverymuch.
I swear shoe manufacturers think all women have small, slender, dainty little feet. I know I am not the only chick with long, wide feet.
I wear a men’s size 11 wide width sneaker. Yeah……my feet are huge. So, that roughly translates to a women’s size 13. Good luck finding a cute shoe or stylish dress boots in that size. I even started looking at shoes for drag queens — which I can usually find the size I need but unfortunately not the style I want.
Women are statistically more likely to be caring for young children in public so more spaces that are friendly to young children, like enclosed indoor play areas at libraries, coffee shops, etc. Features like safety barriers that do not have wide gaps, covered outlets, and safe window coverings make me feel more at ease with my kids in public.
This is a lot more trivial than what others have suggested, but, tools and implements. I’d like secateurs designed for my small hands and chef’s cleavers made with the same philosophy. Phones I can hold comfortably, and drills that are an appropriate size. I want these things to made for AFAB users, not simply coloured pink.
There are definite safety benefits derived from being able to properly grip and handle a tool, too.
Cargo style utility trousers like they sell in the men’s area of Walmart for like 20 dollars… but for women. I cannot find anything similar for women unless I want to spend 80 dollars per pair. I mean seriously, I can find dozens of cargo LEGGINGS for women before I find a decent pair of real cargos.
Not cringey “Girl power yihaaa” type of stuff when it comes to Geek stuff.
When I find a cool shirt or what, it’s mostly designed for men because of the character, the color, or the anime/comic. When I look at women shirt, mostly pink or pastel color, girly heroes with cringey women empowering writing, or cute animals.
Like, I can’t appreciate a good DBZ shirts with a fight printed on it, too “male”, I better watch some Barbie or shojo girls related stuff 🥴
I want a shirt of my shape with a f*****g good fight and blood on it, please 🙌.
polyester crop top shirt, thanks.
Bathrooms and changing rooms are going to gender neutral. Which is a nice idea, but I think this guy in my building uses it to jerk off, which is gross. You’ve been hogging the bathroom for 20 minutes and stroll out with the Victoria Secret catalog.
Changing tables in assine places. My kids are out of diapers now, but I cringe everytime I walk into most public restrooms and see where they put the changing tables.
Like they should never be next to the hand drier those are too loud to have next to a kids head or in the entryway so everyone has to scoot around you or if their is a line you are basically changing a diaper in the middle of it .. just why, why not open the damn thing and think about the logistics before bolting it to the wall.
They’re all that bit too high that you means your line of sight will most likely just be obscured/blocked/restricted etc
They should be made bigger to accommodate everyone.
Houses designed with space for the dealing with the amount of laundry a family gets through. In the UK there is very rarely enough space for dealing with laundry. With the energy crisis and cold weather, drying washing all over the indoors is leading to health issues caused by damp. This lack of design accommodation for laundry is almost certainly related to laundry being a traditionally female concern.
I hate name tag stickers. There’s no great option for where to put them on outfits, plus they never stick well, so I feel like I’m just constantly pressing my hand to my breast to fix them.”
All sinks at a reachable distance from the toilet, so I can wash from period blood without having to walk to the sink like a penguin or even have to put on my pants to walk out to the sink and then walk back to the toilet. In my country there are bidets in most homes but in public bathrooms it’s still very s****y. It just makes it twice as hard, specially when you use the menstrual cup.
For a long time in architecture men design homes that were gorgeous, but absolutely impossible to clean. Essentially, made for the man the gawk at and the woman to well, suck it up.
I’d love to see what a “home designed for women” or “space designed for women” would look like. Someone that’s accessible for a majority of women to not only interact with personally but, care for.
Doors that are easier to open. I’m barely 100 lbs and a lot of doors are just impossible to open for me. It was especially annoying when I worked at the office building with doors that could literally crush me. I understand some of them need to weigh a lot due to fire safety requirements, but a lot of them are just unnecessarily big.
I’d just want to ban all glass or metal grate catwalks and stairs in contemporary architecture. My job has me visiting conference centers, hotels and flagship office building fairly frequently and there’s just so much accidential peeping tom architecture going on…
Ergonomic mouse’s. I got one because I am on the computer all day. I have to hold it slightly at an angle that is not the way it’s designed which kind of defeats the purpose. They are obviously designed for much larger hands.
Depending on which part of the demographic you happen to be, you perhaps haven’t noticed that the vast majority of things are either designed with you in mind or for an entirely different kind of human. We’re talking, of course, about gendered design.
Someone asked “What female-centric design do you want to see in architecture and design?” and women shared their best ideas. From simple things like car headrests to literally medical procedures, women often get the short end of the stick. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites, and be sure to share your thoughts below.
Depending on who you are, it can be pretty hard to actually notice unless you have experienced it or have been told to look for it. Take the average gendered public bathroom. The male section will inevitably have a whole row or two of urinals, which makes it have significantly more capacity.
So while the female and male bathrooms might be of the same square footage, the male version can accommodate significantly more people doing their business. This is a classic case of “equal space” not actually being equal.
in public restrooms anywhere that toilet paper is provided. Dispensers should be a normal part of restroom design, like toilet paper holders.
I almost always have a tampon on me, but of course, the one time I don’t, I start my period days early while at a museum with no re-entry. Their restroom surprisingly had a tampon machine that required quarters; and I surprisingly actually had a quarter on me. I was like, “wow this is actually my lucky day”. Then guess what? The tampon machine ate my quarter and gave me nothing. Happily the museum staff provided me with a tampon when I told them what happened, but that was after having to leave the resteoom with toilet paper shoved in my pants.
So ever since then, I’m wondering why feminine products aren’t available and stocked like toilet paper in restrooms. It’s a basic hygiene issue and most women will only use the free stuff in an emergency anyway.
I want the design of medical solutions (anything from medicine to braces to even first aid courses or whatever) to be more inclusive for women. Many drugs are initially not tested on women, which can lead to them not discovering positive effects that the meds have on women but not men. The symptoms for heart attacks are different for women, so more women don't get the proper help for a heart attack. It's such a dark side of inequality.
Even worse, oftentimes items specifically intended for women end up being designed by men. These fall into two categories, items where the designer simply assumes a woman’s body is basically identical to a man's or the designer simply follows trends and fads. In both cases, the product ends up being less functional than it should be.
In general, this issue can seem baffling at times. After all, most of us would assume that people who are somewhat different from us have different needs, expectations, and assumptions. This is perhaps why it’s always good to get a second (or even third) opinion whenever you can, you might just learn something new.
Shoes. Car seats. Sporting equipment. Tools. Working spaces. Safety equipment. Medications and medical procedures.
I went with my team for a customer visit recently and they gave us access badges with clips. The men clipped them to their suit jackets. The women among us in sweaters and blouses had to figure out where tf to clip them. Most companies hand out breakaway lanyards these days, which work for folks in any type of clothing. Just the most recent irritant I experienced where it was obvious women were not considered in their customer visit process development.
Also, white blouses. Don't make them see through, thankyouverymuch.
I swear shoe manufacturers think all women have small, slender, dainty little feet. I know I am not the only chick with long, wide feet.
I wear a men's size 11 wide width sneaker. Yeah......my feet are huge. So, that roughly translates to a women's size 13. Good luck finding a cute shoe or stylish dress boots in that size. I even started looking at shoes for drag queens -- which I can usually find the size I need but unfortunately not the style I want.
Women are statistically more likely to be caring for young children in public so more spaces that are friendly to young children, like enclosed indoor play areas at libraries, coffee shops, etc. Features like safety barriers that do not have wide gaps, covered outlets, and safe window coverings make me feel more at ease with my kids in public.
This is a lot more trivial than what others have suggested, but, tools and implements. I'd like secateurs designed for my small hands and chef's cleavers made with the same philosophy. Phones I can hold comfortably, and drills that are an appropriate size. I want these things to made for AFAB users, not simply coloured pink.
There are definite safety benefits derived from being able to properly grip and handle a tool, too.
Cargo style utility trousers like they sell in the men's area of Walmart for like 20 dollars... but for women. I cannot find anything similar for women unless I want to spend 80 dollars per pair. I mean seriously, I can find dozens of cargo LEGGINGS for women before I find a decent pair of real cargos.
Not cringey “Girl power yihaaa” type of stuff when it comes to Geek stuff.
When I find a cool shirt or what, it’s mostly designed for men because of the character, the color, or the anime/comic. When I look at women shirt, mostly pink or pastel color, girly heroes with cringey women empowering writing, or cute animals.
Like, I can’t appreciate a good DBZ shirts with a fight printed on it, too “male”, I better watch some Barbie or shojo girls related stuff 🥴
I want a shirt of my shape with a f*****g good fight and blood on it, please 🙌.
polyester crop top shirt, thanks.
Bathrooms and changing rooms are going to gender neutral. Which is a nice idea, but I think this guy in my building uses it to jerk off, which is gross. You’ve been hogging the bathroom for 20 minutes and stroll out with the Victoria Secret catalog.
Changing tables in assine places. My kids are out of diapers now, but I cringe everytime I walk into most public restrooms and see where they put the changing tables.
Like they should never be next to the hand drier those are too loud to have next to a kids head or in the entryway so everyone has to scoot around you or if their is a line you are basically changing a diaper in the middle of it .. just why, why not open the damn thing and think about the logistics before bolting it to the wall.
They're all that bit too high that you means your line of sight will most likely just be obscured/blocked/restricted etc
They should be made bigger to accommodate everyone.
Houses designed with space for the dealing with the amount of laundry a family gets through. In the UK there is very rarely enough space for dealing with laundry. With the energy crisis and cold weather, drying washing all over the indoors is leading to health issues caused by damp. This lack of design accommodation for laundry is almost certainly related to laundry being a traditionally female concern.
I hate name tag stickers. There’s no great option for where to put them on outfits, plus they never stick well, so I feel like I’m just constantly pressing my hand to my breast to fix them."
All sinks at a reachable distance from the toilet, so I can wash from period blood without having to walk to the sink like a penguin or even have to put on my pants to walk out to the sink and then walk back to the toilet. In my country there are bidets in most homes but in public bathrooms it's still very s****y. It just makes it twice as hard, specially when you use the menstrual cup.
For a long time in architecture men design homes that were gorgeous, but absolutely impossible to clean. Essentially, made for the man the gawk at and the woman to well, suck it up.
I’d love to see what a “home designed for women” or “space designed for women” would look like. Someone that’s accessible for a majority of women to not only interact with personally but, care for.
Doors that are easier to open. I'm barely 100 lbs and a lot of doors are just impossible to open for me. It was especially annoying when I worked at the office building with doors that could literally crush me. I understand some of them need to weigh a lot due to fire safety requirements, but a lot of them are just unnecessarily big.
I'd just want to ban all glass or metal grate catwalks and stairs in contemporary architecture. My job has me visiting conference centers, hotels and flagship office building fairly frequently and there's just so much accidential peeping tom architecture going on...
Ergonomic mouse's. I got one because I am on the computer all day. I have to hold it slightly at an angle that is not the way it's designed which kind of defeats the purpose. They are obviously designed for much larger hands.
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