The under representation of women in design has been their own doing - A Critical Evaluation

THE UNDERREPRESENTATION OF WOMEN IN DESIGN HAS BEEN THEIR OWN DOING A CRITICAL EVALUATION

DARYA POLLOCK N0681386 Nottingham Trent University Word count: 7066

Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................... 2 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 3 Historical female oppression............................................................................................ 5 Angel in the House ....................................................................................................... 6 Rise of Feminism........................................................................................................... 7 Current female oppression .............................................................................................. 8 Change of attitude ........................................................................................................ 8 Are female preferences innate or taught? ..................................................................... 9 Dominating ................................................................................................................. 10 Feminism on the rise .................................................................................................. 11 Is the lack of ambition due to our upbringing? ............................................................ 12 Continuing changes ....................................................................................................... 13 Two steps forward, one step back .............................................................................. 13 Toxicity of fourth wave feminism ................................................................................ 15 Lack of representation ................................................................................................ 17 Personal research .......................................................................................................... 18 Methodology .............................................................................................................. 18 Findings and discussion ............................................................................................. 19 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 21 Evaluation ...................................................................................................................... 22 References ..................................................................................................................... 23 Figures list ..................................................................................................................... 26 Appendix 1 .................................................................................................................... 26 Appendix 2 .................................................................................................................... 30

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Abstract This paper focuses on the reasoning behind the underrepresentation of women within design. It reviews historical data of female oppression due to religious and traditional beliefs and how those same beliefs impact modern society. This paper includes new research based on the issues outlined, with the conclusion that most of the findings support the proposed hypothesis: the underrepresentation of women is due to the way women are raised to be quiet and subservient by their mothers, in order to maximize their survival. This hypothesis was formed from an extensive literature review looking at the oppression of women through history, as well as personal research. The research focuses on the behavior and views of young female designers and how they interact with their peers.

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Introduction Throughout time, women have been left out of data and their needs have been ignored due to their sex. In truth, they have not been left out due to their sex, but due to their gender. Historically, the two terms have been interchangeable, but in modern society, the distinction is becoming far greater. In broad terms, sex refers to “the biological differences between males and females” whereas gender, while harder to define, “can refer to the role of a male or female in society” (Cross, 2018). The concept of gender influences the way we see each other as well as how we see ourselves. Though, in the last few decades, women have been choosing their own path and finding their own truth, “it’s safe to say that most women are not being subconsciously programmed by the patriarchal system” (Lehrman, 1997), but the notion of gender prevails.

A woman has always been told she should be feminine, and according to thousands of books (including religious texts) feminine woman is timid, and subservient. A “a truly feminine woman, always knew her place” (Lehrman, 1997). Women are still often seen as the second sex, making the prospect of speaking out and being taken seriously that much harder.

The fight for equality has been a topic of great debate many centuries and has taken many forms but the most famous, is feminism. According to Constance Grady (Grady, 2018), a writer for Vox, there have been four waves: Eighteenth century–1920s - First wave feminism: the right to vote, divorce, and act against discrimination 1920–1970 - Second wave feminism: body positivity, abortion rights, and sexual freedom.

1980–2000 - Third wave feminism: LGBTQ rights, body positivity, and environmentalism.

2000–present - Fourth wave feminism: gender politics, body positivity, trans acceptance, and equality.

There have been hundreds of writers who dedicated their lives to researching inequality and being advocates for the feminist movement, but there are two I wish to bring to your

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attention. They stand out due to their work within and addition to the field of female representation.

Caroline Criado Perez is a leading feminist writer in the field. Her most notable feats include getting a female historical figure on Bank of England banknotes; getting Twitter to introduce a "report abuse" button on tweets; getting the first statue of a woman (Millicent Fawcett) in Parliament Square. Since releasing her book “Invisible Women” in 2019, she has been a front runner for closing the data gap.

In this academic paper, the term ‘data gap’ refers to the lack of data and research into the female field. Whether that is physical as with pharmaceuticals, or with personal preference such as with colour, the data we have on the female half of the population is insufficient.

John Horgan has written for many publications, including National Geographic, Scientific American, The New York Times, Time, and Newsweek. He is widely known all over the world, most of his books being translated to 8 or more languages. He writes and argues about controversial topics, using scientific facts to back up his points. This man is campaigning for women in ways that reduce blame, and rather investigate the reasons behind the issue.

In this dissertation I discuss what steps have been taken in order to move towards a more equal society and their downfalls. There has been incredible progress since feminism took root as a movement: women have been given the right to vote, abortion rights, and representation in politics. In current events, the Equality Act was passed in 2010 making it illegal for employers to discriminate against an applicant based on their race, gender, religion, and several other traits. Women are still discriminated against on a regular basis by the underrepresentation of their sex. Less than a quarter of Congress is female (Houlis, 2018). They are not represented in thousands of studies, talked over, ignored, and belittled. This begs the question: why are today’s women not fighting enough to be heard?

I propose that the underrepresentation is due to the way women are raised. The ‘survival techniques’ we are taught by our mothers are ones they know to work: stay quiet and don’t draw attention to yourself – a man is less likely to get angry if you do not challenge him. The survival technique passed on from mother to daughter through generations was seemingly tried and tested and worked. Keeping “low profile” used to be more beneficial for women in order to stay out of the family conflicts and showing submission in order to avoid domination challenge with men. Traditionally, for many generations, 4

women are taught that being dominating is wrong, that they should be smart, but not as smart as a man, and that being a girl does not make them the man’s equal.

I will summarise the research methods and findings of my personal research that was undertaken. Outlining that most of the findings supported the proposed hypothesis – when a woman is talked over, or ignored, she does not fight for her right to be heard, but rather shrinks away from the conversation.

We must change the perception that femininity is a timid and gentle nature of a woman, but rather the attitude and tenaciousness of her. “If today femininity no longer exists, then it never existed.” (Beauvoir, 1949). Femininity should not be defined by prehistoric notions of housewives and gender roles, but rather by what helps women become the best versions of themselves. Because only by being the best version of themselves, can they help to design and create the best version of the future.

Historical female oppression In this section, the themes of historical oppression of women and the rise of feminism will be covered and explored.

Historically, women have been an influence on the inside world, rather than the outside.

Their place was often within the home – to look after children and keep the house tidy.

“Women are traditionally associated with nature, rather than culture” (Anscombe, 1984): that their traditionally assigned areas of worth are away from the public eyes. This view is outdated and rather Victorian, but it surprisingly still holds some power over our society. This means that the idea that a woman must “stay at home” (Anscombe, 1984) has become more than an idea: it has become an expectation. Women were expected to stay at home, and look after the children, while the man was traditionally the bread winner (or hunter-gatherer). “[A] woman’s place – particularly middle-class woman’s place – has traditionally been held to be in the home” (Anscombe, 1984). The role of the woman was often to “pretty up” (Anscombe, 1984) a home: add cushions, flowers, napkins, but a woman was never involved in picking the furnishings, much less in picking a house.

In some ways, women were not oppressed into their roles, but placed into them by the circumstances of their birth. It is not that society locked women inside their homes, but rather that it has been forced on them by their sex. Contraception has not always been as 5

easily available as it is now. It was only in 1972 that the USA Supreme Court passed a law that stated “that the unmarried should have equal access to contraceptive methods with those who are married” (Jütte, 2008). Women have used an array of old wives tales as contraception. In ancient Egypt, they used “a combination of cotton, dates, honey and acacia as a suppository” (Nikolchev, 2010) in order to prevent unwanted pregnancy, and understandably, it had a low success rate. So when a woman fell pregnant, which was often due to the low success rate of make-shift birth control, there was very little choice abortions were incredibly dangerous due to being frowned upon by society and the lack of knowledge of the process, with numbers “as high as 1.2 million [women] a year” dying (Henshaw, 1986). Therefore, she would have no choice but to have the child and look after it, ergo, being unable to work, and relying on the man for financial and physical support.

But why do women agree to their assigned roles? Why do they allow themselves to be sectioned into what society deems correct?

Angel in the House The very fact of their gender led to women being oppressed for the majority of history.

They have been used as currency, sold off, stripped of rights, domesticated, and possibly worst of all, underestimated. There have always been expectations for women to stay at home, care for the children, and to generally serve the man as he was the one providing for the family. Honore de Balzac wrote “a man should weaken the will and strength of a wife by tiring her out under a load of constant work so that she has no energy left to cause trouble.” (Balzac, 1829), a very popular opinion of the time. He was also the man who wrote “never allow her to drink water alone. If you do, you are lost,” (Balzac, 1829), so it may not be wise to view anything he said as good advice.

By all accounts, there is no reason why men should be the ones to dominate. But because they are physically stronger than women, it “entitle[s] them to engross all power and prerogative to themselves” (Fermor, 1740), giving them the power to assign the female roles. There were an immense number of books written on the subject, such as literary classic ‘Angel in the House’ (Patmore, 1854), describing that the perfect wife was “too gentle” and “powerless” (Patmore, 1854). Women from a young age were taught that they should not speak up, be demure, and follow what the man says, in order to stay marriable.

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The idea that a woman should be controlled and trained to serve her husband better was a notion that was very popular during the 1800s. In many religious texts and ideas it was referred to as “a woman's duty” (Prabhupada, 1972) to be “gentle and quiet” (The Bible, New International Version, 1 Peter 3:3-4) and “to serve her husband in all conditions” (Prabhupada, 1972). This meant that this view was not only being forced onto women by their husbands, but also by the people they relied on for solace and advice – the church community. This was not only the Christian religion, but most religions across the globe.

The Srimad-Bhagavatam is referred to as a “philosophical and literary classic” (Prabhupada, 1972) by many, and yet it essentially talks of keeping women as slaves for the pleasure of their captors (husbands).

Rise of Feminism “All oppression creates a state of war. And this is no exception.” (Beauvoir, 1949). The historical oppression of women brought about a gender war, that has been a topic of great strife, and even bloodshed, ever since.

In America, around the 1850s, people began to concern themselves with a “radical notion that women were people” (Shear, 1985), mainly driven by the women’s desire to vote, and thus began the fight for female rights and subsequently, the birth of feminism in the Western world. This was the ‘first wave’ which began with the Seneca Falls convention of 1848. Almost 200 women gathered in a church in New York and discussed the ‘conditions and rights’ of women and came to a conclusion that consisted of a list of 12 items they wished to change – including the right to vote (Editors, 2010). Figure 1 shows a depiction of the meeting on the second day, as there are men present, and shows the popularity of the conference. This was a pivotal point in the history of womankind. The female rights movement had begun in which women started to fight for their right to be heard and recognised. This radical movement caused “girls regard themselves not as adjectives, but as nouns.” (Stanton, 1880).

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Figure 1

During this time, the United Kingdom was also going through reformation. Everyone knows the, possibly the most iconic, group of radical women activists: The Suffragettes.

Even more iconic yet, Emily Wilding Davison famously gave her life to the cause by stepping in front of the king’s horse in 1913. However, not many know, and even less talk about Mary Lowndes, who created artwork that supported and promoted the movement.

The fight was global: from America, to the United Kingdom, to New Zealand, women were rising en masse to fight for their rights.

Current female oppression In this section, I explore the themes of current socioeconomical factors that impact women in their day to day lives. I discuss the evolutionary and cultural biases that women have been exposed to, how that impacts their innate preferences, and how companies use those preferences to market their products. I also propose the reason behind the underrepresentation of women and the data gap to be their upbringing by the female figures in their lives.

Change of attitude Since the suffragettes, we have had an immense change in the way that women are treated, but we are still a long way away from equality.

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In the modern day, we are breaking all the stereotypes set by our ancestors; men are now often house husbands, who cook, clean, and look after the children, while the women pursue their careers. “Being a woman hunter is a choice” (Anscombe, 1984); women in the modern age are more and more often choosing not to have children in order to focus on their careers as they “cannot afford both” (Cosslett, 2017). “Birth rates amongst women in their twenties declined by 15 per cent between 2007 and 2012 and one in five women enter menopause without children” (Cohn, 2010) according to Gretchen Livingston and D’Vera Cohn. This could be the result of easily available, and often free, contraception. Now, we have the ability to use contraception that is “almost 100 per cent reliable” (Jütte, 2008), and women are using it to lead their lives the way they want, rather than being governed by their bodies.

Are female preferences innate or taught?

Saini presents a dichotomy regarding preference by asking the question: “Do little girls prefer dolls dressed in pink because they’re female, or because society has taught them that they should prefer dolls and the colour pink?” (Saini, 2017). This in turn provokes a further question: if women are not forced to pick pink things, why do they still sell so well? It could be due to the fact that it is traditional for a woman to like pink; they saw their mum wearing pink, and mimicked her, as most young girls do, and it became an ingrained part of who they are as a person. Anya Hubert carried out a study (Hubert, 2007) that surveyed 171 British adults and 37 immigrants to the UK from China with almost equal parts men and women. She found that, although overall, everyone preferred the blue colours, women tended to lean toward the blues with “pinkish” undertones – such as lilac – whereas men tend to lean towards purer blues. Her theory states that it may be an evolutionary advantage, as women were often fruit gatherers, and seeing the redder colours would have made it easier to pick out ripe fruit on a dark green background. She also found that the Chinese women, who were not exposed to ‘girly’ toys like Barbie at a young age, had more of an affinity for pink than their European counterparts. This data would seem to suggest that a woman’s natural affiliation to the colour pink is evolutionary rather than social.

However, not all women like the colour pink. Even though Hubert’s study proved that women liked pink-ish colours, the overall preference was blue. If everyone prefers the colour blue, why do companies still market pink things in order to appeal to women?

There is an idea that women’s preferences remain the same throughout their lives: frilly pink and girly as they were in childhood. Slowly but surely, women have started to 9

understand that they “no longer have to adhere to a well-prescribed regimen” (Lehrman, 1997) to be feminine or womanly. But even with the idea that femininity is not just one size fits all, producers still use the stereotypes to establish traditionally fashionable and, because of that, marketable goods.

The electronics company Dell made a faux pas in 2009. They launched a website named ‘Della’, designed specifically for women, which gave the readers tips for colour schemes, computer accessories, and calorie counting apps. The public, of course, was outraged; a member of the Tech Register, Austin Modine, reviewed it as: “if you thought computer shopping was a gender-neutral affair, then you’ve obviously been struck down by an acute case of female hysteria. (Nine out of ten Victorian-age doctors agree.)”

(Modine, 2009). Following the backlash, Dell changed the website name and aims, saying “you spoke, we listened” (Casserly, 2009), which is a fantastic step in the right direction, but the question arises: how many females were on the panel for that website’s design? If there was at least one, they would have been able to deter (or perhaps alter) the website’s creation. How many women were surveyed in order to find out what a woman wanted from a laptop? This could be the reason for the market’s downfalls – not enough women on their research or design panels. The design goes through multiple stages of approval – creation, alteration, production, and marketing - before it is released to the public. Assuming there was at least one woman on one of these panels, why didn’t she suggest a change to their design? Possibly, because she was intimidated, or most likely ignored, by her male co-workers.

Dominating Our world is more female driven than it ever has been. Women are dominating the lives inside and outside the homes. Women are becoming more independent and taking charge: women are now making the final decision in the purchase of 92% of vacations, 91% of homes, and 60% of cars (Sayre, 2009) – huge decisions that would usually have been done by the man of the house.

There have been many iconic female empowerment figures throughout history, but in modern culture, our society is run by them. Our minds are daily bombarded by immense amounts of information from social media, the internet, and television. This creates a space for women to learn behaviours from their pop media culture icons. Even though men are responsible for “almost one-fifth of the top songs in the last six years” (Smith, Choueiti , & Pieper, 2018), we are living in the era of Queen Bey (Beyoncé). Music and art play an important role in strengthening women’s position in modern society. Our pop 10

culture is currently dominated by strong female role models such as Rhianna, Beyoncé, and Lizzo. As the icon of female empowerment, Beyoncé famously wrote her hit song ‘Run the World (Girls)’ which started a cult following of her ideas and views that is often referred to as ‘the beehive’. This applies to much more than pop culture. There are some incredibly strong female politicians such as Angela Merkel, and astounding activists like Gretta Thunberg who are dominating their fields, and leading masses of people to a better future. This surge in woman power has inspired millions around the world. It is possible that this is the explanation to the question of why black women appear to be happier (Betsey Stevenson, 2009). That it is due to the mass representation of black women and their body positive mantras that black women are happier than western women.

So why, in this modern, new world, does the mass market still ignore women’s needs? In the words of Saini, “we sometimes imagine sexual equality to be a modern invention, a product of our enlightenment” (Saini, 2017). Supporting this is not only social views on the issue of inequality, but also scientific data. The Sage Journals surveyed 337 titles from the Annual Review of Anthropology from 1984, and found that less than 6% of those titles were revolving around inequality, power, and gender (Tilly, 2001). Why are we not addressing the pressing gender data gaps?

Feminism on the rise Since the popularization of feminism, the movement has evolved through three prominent stages. Karen Lehrman talks about the many different ‘waves’ and types of feminism – going from liberal to socialist to postmodern. She suggests that most of feminism, as a concept, does not stand for anything other than equal opportunities, giving the people who identify as feminists the possibility of being completely different from each other and upholding their own personal morals whilst being a feminist. The idea that feminism does not stand for pro-choice or maternity pay, for example, but rather empowers women to do and say what they truly believe in. In a contrasting statement, she suggests that “ideological feminism is an astonishingly unfeminist assumption: that all women think alike, that all women hold the same political opinions, values, and goals.” (Lehrman, 1997) and that if a woman is not doing so, they are living under “false goals” (Lehrman, 1997). This is emphasising the positive connotations of how women, on the whole, are very similar. This is not to say that all women should act the same, but rather that they do. Not as an insult, but as a call to unite in a power and goal.

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There has been extensive research into whether feminism has made women happier.

Short answer? No. Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers found that women have been getting gradually more unhappy since 1972 (Betsey Stevenson, 2009). The findings of this study are questionable: for one, the measure of happiness is subjective and is very difficult to evaluate. Secondly, it is incredibly difficult to narrow down the decline in women’s happiness to just one cause. Since 1972, there have been economic crashes, terrorist attacks, and mass unemployment. Therefore, we cannot be sure that women have been becoming “gradually more unhappy” solely due to feminism as the study suggests.

In contrast, while women have, apparently, on the whole been getting sadder, black women have been getting happier, their unhappiness scores dropping by roughly 20% in the last decade (Betsey Stevenson, 2009). It is possible that black women are more joyful due to gaining a lot of positive representation in mainstream media. Research found that between 2015 and 2016, black people claimed 17 percent of the roles in broadcast scripted shows, compared to only 6% in 1986 (UCLA, 2019). This prompts the hypothesis that it is only Caucasian women who are becoming more dismayed.

Is the lack of ambition due to our upbringing?

We, as a society, have had the notion that women are domestic creatures for centuries.

Even though we have progressed immensely, we are still a long way away from equity.

“We still live in a world in which a significant fraction of people, including women, believe that a woman belongs and wants to belong exclusively in the home” (Yalow, 1977) was a sentence in Rosalyn Sussman Yalow’s Nobel prize speech, in which she spoke of the inequality in science, and the sexist remarks she encountered while carrying out her research.

I propose it is the fault of our mothers and the women around us. Usually, a child is raised by their mother, with the statistics showing that of 22 million children living with a single parent in the USA, 19 million live with their mothers (Duffin, 2020). If that child is a girl, the mother will pass on her tips on how she has survived. As has been mentioned above, a woman has traditionally been expected to be quiet and subservient, and that was the way they succeeded in life, so the mother would teach her daughter to do the same. Not to raise a weak daughter, but to give her the highest chance of survival. This is not to say that women are actively teaching their daughters to be quiet, but it is done on a subconscious level from how children see the world and their mother’s interactions with it. Women are often taught to “shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller” 12

(Adichie, 2014) lest they threaten a man. Not in the healthy ‘challenging an opinion of a fellow equal’ way but threaten his position as leader. “Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.” (Atwood, 1938) – women are not scared of challenging a man because they think they would not win the argument, but because they are afraid for their own lives. They pass down the survival techniques they have learned, to their daughters to ensure their survival. This leads to women not speaking up, and keeping their heads down, and in turn, teaching their daughters to do the same. The lack of confidence and bravery in women of the past generations should not be an obstacle for a new generation of women to find their social equality.

Continuing changes In this section I discuss what steps have been taken in order to move towards a more equal society and their downfalls. I touch on the dangers and issues within toxic feminism that can cause women to regress in their newly gained positions in society. I explore the statistical reasons for the underrepresentation of women and how it can be fatal.

Two steps forward, one step back Understanding that we have a long way to go before we achieve a level of equality that fits everyone (“as total equality is not possible” (Westwood, 2016)), is the key to making progress.

Equal opportunities for women have been introduced and enforced by the Equality Act 2010. Its primary purpose was to consolidate, update and supplement existing antidiscrimination laws in place within the UK. There are nine specific areas of discrimination listed by the act: 1. Age 2. Sex 3. Race 4. Disability 5. Pregnancy 6. Marital status 7. Sexual orientation.

8. Gender reassignment 9. Religious background

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It is illegal to discriminate workers based on any of the nine characteristics listed. This has been giving women an opportunity to break out of the stereotypical roles they have been placed to throughout time, and instead apply and succeed in jobs that have previously been reserved for men. This is not to say that discrimination no longer happens. 23% of women aged 16-30 have been sexually harassed at work but only 8% have reported it (Siddique, 2018). Women in the workplace are afraid to call out their abusers. Women are not speaking up even when it endangers their wellbeing. Before women are even hired, they are prejudiced against. There are countless employers who still judge a person on their sex rather than on their skills, with 39% of employers studied still asking a young mother how having children will impact her job role (which is illegal under the Equality Act 2010) (Bester, 2019).

The wage gap has been a topic of much discussion and argument for many years. It has been found that on average, American women are more educated than men, earning more bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees than men (Catalyst, 2019). See Figure 2: a photo taken at NTU campus, showing a set of photos of graduates, and four out of 6 people pictured were women. This could be indicative of the ratio of graduates. Yet even with this in mind, the wage gap is ever increasing with a woman making 49 cents for every dollar a man earns (Hartmann & Rose, 2018). There is an argument that

Figure 2

suggests the pay gap is not that women are paid less but is it a wage comparison that gives us the horrific statistics we see. This theory suggests that the wage gap is caused by difference in job – some are physical, and some are traditional. It has been found that “women spend more time on tasks that set them up for lower-paid careers” as women tend to gravitate towards “people-oriented tasks” compared to their male counterparts who spend their time perfecting “high-skill information tasks” (Stinebrickner, Stinebrickner, & Sullivan, 2018). There are more men in senior roles than women “due to the 1950s pattern of men going out to work and women being at home to support them” (Gascoigne) which increases the average a man earns. Another reason for the apparent wage gap is that women choose to work in low paid roles as they offer more flexibility and are easier to keep while having a family.

Sadly, there are easy solutions to these issues that are simply not being implemented: opening all sectors of work to part-time and flexible hours could mean that women have the opportunity to follow their own dreams and career goals while keeping the family 14

orientated lifestyle. A way forward could include designing roles that work for both sexes. Everyone is unique and has a unique lifestyle that they fit around their jobs. If a large proportion of our workforce would benefit from flexible hours, why have they not been implemented? There are downfalls of flexible hours for both companies and employees – the employees could take advantage and do less work by lying which harms the company, or the employee loses the line between work and home and becomes overworked and stressed. We have a way to go before being able to implement hours that could benefit all.

Above all, the reason why women are seen to get paid less is since they are less likely to ask for a raise. Linda Babcock found that women typically request 30% less pay rises than men, and by her calculations, they lose out on roughly $1.5 million over the woman’s career (Babcock, 2008). “when it comes to women’s ability to contribute and to lead, [women] are being shut out of the process” (Sisario, 2018) because they don’t ask.

Women are not pushing to be equal.

Toxicity of fourth wave feminism Feminism has done the world a lot of good, but is it now causing us to regress? Even in 1949, people were already getting tired of hearing about feminism – “Enough ink has been spilled in quarrelling over feminism, and perhaps we should say no more about it” (Beauvoir, 1949). The feminist movement has morphed so many times, not only has it given a voice to misandrists but it has, on occasion, caused women to see themselves as victims of the patriarchy, and “self-imposed victimhood is not a recipe for happiness.” (Schlafly, 2009). The #MeToo campaign started with the best

Figure 3

intentions – to allow women to join in solidarity over a traumatic experience, yet many used it as an excuse to tell the world about an incident of awkward flirting, or to make fun of someone they found to be unattractive. With the visual aid of Figure 3, we can see a comical approach to the issue of bias in reporting sexual harassment. “Women only report harassment from ugly men.” (Moreno, 2020).

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Frivolity and stupidity have come to rule the online community, with more and more people becoming “triggered” by words on their screen. Trigger warnings are plastered all over the internet with the intent to warn readers about potentially sensitive topics. As noble as this seems, a study that used 451 PTSD sufferers found that trigger warnings are mostly useless but in “the worst-case scenario is that they actually have the capacity to make things worse for trauma survivors” (Jones, McNally, & Bellet, 2019). Trigger warnings and the culture that surrounds them “reinforce the idea that women are ruled by their emotions” (Bloomfield, 2016) which further convinces society that women are hysterical creatures who should not be allowed to take on any responsibility.

This extremism spreads to all areas of feminist movements. The same way as #MeToo became a way to complain about unattractive men flirting with a woman, false sexual assault charges have been used to knock men down through a miscarriage of justice. The FBI has found that around 8% of rape charges were found to be false after investigation (FBI, 1996). This sounds like a low number, but if it were globalised, it has a different impact. The female population is around 3,900,000,000 and according to Rape Crisis UK, 20% of women have been victims of sexual assault (Justice, 2013). This means that 780,000,000 women have been sexually assaulted. From this, we can deduce that around 62,400,000 women have made false allegations against men. False allegations and their encouragement are not only causing women to regress in the eyes of society but is also harming men. Victimising oneself for personal gain is causing the regression of the feminism movement by belittling its cause. In a recent study by YouGov, 28% of young people were reported to think that winking is sexual harassment (Smith M. , 2017) and with such revolutionary figures, “society could be excused for doubting women’s ability to evaluate danger and cope with public life” (Magazine, 2017).

Anti-feminism and rejection of feminism has been encouraged, not only in men but also in women, by the fourth wave feminist culture otherwise known as ‘radical feminists’.

These are the people who believe that women are "far superior [to men] and always have been." (Golding, 2015). They have been known to collect their period blood in a jar, and making cookies with it (Rivas, 2017), and stating things such as “I want to see a man beaten to a bloody pulp with a high-heel shoved in his mouth, like an apple in the mouth of a pig.” (Dworkin, 2011) therefore, understandably, making those around them believe that feminists are crazy. Possibly, they do these things to get a reaction, possibly because they believe that what they stand for is right. However, this kind of radical feminist is often called a ‘Feminazi’. The term ‘feminazi’ first appeared in the 1990’s, popularized by 16

political commentator Rush Limbaugh, and used to describe a particular type of “extreme” feminist. The types that knock down men’s attempts at supporting the feminist movement with anger and irritation that “they are speaking for women” (Smith L. , 2017).

It is important to use feminism in an empowering way, rather than as an excuse for misandrists and racists to use it to their advantage. We must remind ourselves that feminism stands for equality of women and men, not the idea that a woman is better than the man.

Lack of representation The world’s population is almost 50/50 (49.6% female according to The World Bank Data (Bank, 2019)), and the world is more female dominated than it ever has been. With the power of feminism and equal rights opening the same job titles to both men and women, both sexes seem to be on par. With more female representation in our lives, the younger generations are becoming more inspired to think of their own careers. Schools and design classes are filled with potential new designers and architects. The Guardian reports that “art and design degree courses in general are dominated by women” (Guardian, 2013) yet a Design Council survey shows that only 40% of professional designers are female (Council, 2009). So why are the schools filled with women eager to design a better future, but the reality is so bleak?

It may lie in the ingrained oppression of the female sex. Sheryl Sandberg says that women are the ones responsible for the lack of female representation. “We’re holding ourselves back by not raising our hands, and by pulling back when we should be leaning in” (Sandberg, 2013). This comes from the centuries of female oppression we have already discussed. Women do not feel strong enough to stand up to those who talk over them, those who repeat their idea and get all the credit, those who take what is theirs.

This impacts our world in ways we cannot imagine. Products that are created for women, are often designed solely by men. When designing a world for everyone, we need women in the room. As Caroline Perez rightly suggests “men confuse their own point of view with the truth” (Perez, 2019) and nobody calls them out on it, leaving them to believe that their opinions are the hard facts. There is a possibility that “women have been complicit with their own oppression” (Horgan, 2017) by encouraging toxic male behaviours such as talking over women and being rude to others. The trope has always been that “nice guys finish last”. Women may encourage the awful behaviour in men by ‘flocking’ to the ‘bad guy’ stereotype, and therefore, oppressing themselves. This is not to say that women are gluttons for punishment. “Women do not ask for abuse” (Horgan, 17

2017) but they seem to encourage its existence by conforming to stereotypes put onto us by the media.

Women are not included in data collection for an obscene number of things ranging from seatbelts to medicine. There is always an excuse – “we do not wish to put an unborn child at risk” or “there may be unknown side effects on fertility” – yet they will still put the object on the market, for women to use and potentially damage themselves with it.

Some scientists have reported they do not test drugs on willing female participants because “women’s bodies were seen to be too complex” (Slawson, 2019). Then they put the birth control medicine on the market. To be used by women. Who they did no tests for. Equipment that claims to be ‘one size fits all’ is more likely to fit a man than a woman.

This can range from piano keys to voice recognition. Most cars that have inbuilt voice recognition to decrease distractions on the road, do not recognise female voices, creating not only inconvenience, but also a serious risk. All of this comes from the gender data gap which “could in fact, be fatal” (Perez, 2019) to most women.

Linking back to history, even Darwin and Buss (and many other famous scientists) were incredibly sexist, calling women “the secondary sex” (Darwin, 1859), which formed the standard of excluding women from scientific data. Arguing the idea of male superiority with the suggestion that “women can only have a child every 9 months, whereas a male can, in theory, impregnate infinite females” (Horgan, 2017), and other notions that cherry pick studies that show a physical and mental male dominance over females. We do not seem to have recovered from these ideas.

Personal research Methodology In this section I will summarize the research methods undertaken to answer the questions posed in the summary of the literature review.

By using qualitative data collection methods, I would be able to better understand how young designers felt about inequality in the workplace, their ideas for their future, and whether the two sexes differed in their opinions. The first method of data collection was covert observation. I wanted to see how male and female designers interacted when given a team task.

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I conducted the covert observation at a scheduled crowd research event within the university. The research took place on 18/12/2019. The experiment was carried out by watching and listening to how the participants interacted with each other after being given a group task. The participants were all young designers in their final year of study and the group consisted of 4 females and 4 males. I was able to access this group of people due to being on the same course and in the same year. The observation lasted for approximately 6 hours. I recorded the data by using a note pad on which I noted all the relevant interactions between the males and the females (please see Appendix 1 for the notes). I analysed the data by using discourse analysis: looking at communication and meaning of language, images, and nonverbal interactions, as these would show me the main points of interaction between the two sexes. The benefits of using covert observation are that the participants do not know that they are being observed and are therefore less likely to change their behavior. The downfall however is that it can raise several ethical concerns: the participants must be debriefed fully to ensure their understanding of the research and its uses.

I then conducted a structured interview with open ended and close ended questions. The people interviewed were three female designers and one male designer via a messaging app on 22/01/2020. The interview was carried out by typing the question through the app and awaiting their response before asking the next question. All the participants were young designers in their final year of study and were selected due to their sex, occupation, and my previous knowledge of their desire to make a difference in the world of design. I was able to access this group of people due to being on the same course and in the same year. The interview lasted around 15 minutes. I recorded the data by keeping a transcript of the conversation in a separate document as well as on the messaging app (please see Appendix 2 for the full transcript). I analyzed the data by using narrative analysis which meant looking at the storytelling aspect of the data and interpreting its meaning. The method of a structured interview allowed me to ask pointed questions and compare views of several participants, but it also meant that it was not possible to expand on the questions and follow their answers with a related point.

Findings and discussion The group was tasked with exploring a method of recycling and it could be improved. I will refer to participates 1-8 where 1-4 are male and 5-8 are female. As the group was balanced, there was no possibility of pressure due to numbers. I expected the group to

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be more female driven, as three of the women were powerful personalities in day to day life. The group did not choose a leader but participant 4 naturally assumed the position, dividing the roles and responsibilities between the group, and facing no challenge, continued to be the instigator for most activities. This links back to the idea that men are more likely to assume a position of power and “self-select into competitive environments” (Buser, 2014). During a discussion between the group, participant 7 attempted to suggest an idea, and was interrupted by participant 3. She did not challenge him on this, but rather shank away from the conversation she was very invested in just moments before. This kind of behavior supports the hypothesis I proposed earlier in the paper: that women are taught to not challenge men. During the observation, a woman was talked over, ignored, or her idea repeated by a man who got the credit, a total of 18 times. Each time, the woman would look either dismayed or reprimanded, but not once did the woman retort with a request to not talk over her, or to hear out her idea. This reinforces the proposed hypothesis that women are taught to “shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller” (Adichie, 2014) to ensure personal survival.

The interviews were a way for me to ask young female designers how they felt about the gender gap, and how they viewed their own future. One of the questions posed was whether they are aware of the gender imbalance within design and if so, do they want to change it? The sad answer: no. When prompted with the question of “do you think women are underrepresented in design”, one of the participants said “no, not particularly” as the only places there are less women is within the jobs which “are considered dirty jobs like lifting or manual labour”. If they younger designers are not aware of this bias within their own field, they will not be able to change it.

None of the women I interviewed had any high aspirations for their design careers. The main goal for their career was “to be able to support [their] family”, which supports the idea that women are still influenced by the “1950s pattern of men going out to work and women being at home to support them” (Gascoigne), to the extent that their career goals have been quelled by it. Contrastingly, when a male was asked the same question, he said that “want[s] to be one of the best” and doesn’t “doubt it” that he will be the best one day. This dramatic difference between the genders is what pushes men to have very little self-consciousness when it comes to positions within the industry, and therefore, as discussed earlier in this paper, demand 30% more salary raises than women (Babcock, 2008).

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A point that contradicted the literature and statistics I reviewed was how the participants of the interview felt about children. All three of the female participants expressed a desire to have children at some point in their lives, contradicting the statistic that women are choosing their career over children. Interestingly, 2/3 of the women said that they would only go back to work if they had to but would rather “work from home” after the child was born, again supporting the idea that women choose their home lives over their careers. This suggests that when their child is growing up, they will see their mother working from home (or not working at all) and this will subconsciously imprint on them: that the woman stays at home and looks after the children, while the man works. This may support the hypothesis posed as this shows the beginning of how a girl can be influenced by her mother and female role models around her without them doing anything at all.

Conclusion The literature review shows an obvious trend in the rise in female empowerment.

Women today have more rights and more freedom than women ever have, yet they are still restricted by their gender in many aspects of their lives. My hypothesis states that women’s upbringing and subconscious influence from the female figures in their lives, are to blame for the lack of sexual equality.

The underrepresentation of women in design has not been exclusively their fault, but their mothers’ and their female figures. The root of the problem lying in the traditional views to a woman’s role in the society inherited throughout generations through subconscious influence. We need to realise that by raising our daughters the way our mothers raised us, will not create a better future for them. We must encourage our daughter to speak up, say no, and unapologetically be themselves.

Modern society’s attitudes to our children’s upbringing should be changed: both boys and girls should be raised as equal personalities with their dignity, respective talents, and the right to speak and to be heard. Gender equality will therefore be reflected in confident creativity, which will make our world to be a more beautiful place to live. How this is brought about is unclear to me. I am unsure of how to change attitudes that have been ingrained in our minds over generations. It is something that requires further research.

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Evaluation There are a few main issues with the research and literature review within this paper: •

Most of the research cited has been of a Western culture, so this hypothesis does not stretch to all cultures

•

The personal research lacks in population validity – there were not enough people studied to say that the hypothesis is fully backed up.

•

The personal research lacks cultural validity – there was not enough cultural representation in either of my studies to allow for the hypothesis to be applied globally.

•

Some of the statistics cited are more than 10 years old, and therefore have a lower external validity – the study’s findings may no longer be applicable to the population.

Overall, there is not enough research to be able to state that my hypothesis is correct.

There needs to be further study into the causes of female underrepresentation and the effects of feminism on the wider population. I understand that the traditional narrative clashes with the hypothesis I have proposed. It is my belief that if we spend more time researching alternative theories of cultural development, such as the one presented here, we may change the future by better understanding the processes we go through.

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Appendix 1

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Observation: 4 males/4 females Discussing their day. -> Women seem to split off into one group.

The task is presented 4 takes over the lead He points out they should split the workload. 8 volunteered to talk to people. She wanted the opportunity to leave.

Nobody has asked why 4 is in charge. No one noticed that he is.

2 does not seem to want to do any of the work but that is not because of leadership, hes just a dick.

7 is interrupted by 3 when answering a question.

SHE DIDN’T FIGHT BACK. The team come back from collecting data for their task.

4 sorts them into their individual groups and lays out a plan for the presentations.

8 tried to ask about a part of the solution and 4 acted as if she did not talk even when repeated.

4 nominates himself for the main speaker. Chooses 2 to go with him even though 7 volunteered and asked way before.

After the presentation, they all seem pally – nobody thinks that they have been offended.

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Appendix 2 Key: Participant 1 (female participant) Participant 2 (female participant) Participant 3 (female participant) Participant 4 (male participant)

Q: What made you want to become a designer?

A: I always enjoyed creating objects and new things so knew I wanted to go down the artistic route and finally found furniture design at art foundation working in the 3d department, thus leading me to become a designer A few reasons really -My general love for design -The idea of creating something new that I can say I have worked hard on -The feeling when I have finished a project and I stand back and look at what I have done and how happy it makes me feel -Inspiration from my grandad when growing up as I used to watch and help him make and restore furniture in his shed I liked making things when I was younger e.g. Legos and puzzles so I did construction at GCSE and product design at A Level and then picked my favourite and best subject at university... no massive reason, just because I enjoyed it 30

Q: Who inspired you to look into design? Did you have a role model?

A: In art foundation as part of the 3d group we did lots of short projects that looked into lots of areas of design from architecture to ceramics to product design. I'd say I had influencer such as the guy who ran the workshop for showing me lots of techniques and tutors for encouraging to push me further into my experimentation and learning My grandad was my first inspiration from helping him then as I got older, I began helping my mum with upholstery and textile work which opened my eyes to other types of designs. For more industrial inspiration companies such as g plan, limelight and Nathan for their original 50s, 60s and 70s pieces My construction teacher really pushed me during my GCSEs and my year 12 pd teacher and the technician were so supportive and one of the main reasons that I choose to do it at uni. But the main reason I actually did want to do is because we were taught about designers and I was learning about ross Lovegrove and the Tynant water bottle and how it was designed to make it easier for elderly people and kids to squash them when throwing them away.

Q: Do you think that there are gender issues in design? If so, what kind?

A: Um yes and no. My general art teachers have been prominently female but more specific tutor (art foundation) have been male and uni lecturers have been a mixture if not more female. Then in my placement it was roughly 50/50 I believe that a lot of products are designed by men for women which can be a problem when it comes to the end result (i.e bras) uncomfortable as shit and designed mostly by men lol Sure there is always issues as its hard to represent everyone, e.g. seatbelts in cars never sit comfortable on me and normally lay closer to my neck unless I lift my seat as I'm shorter than the average women Q: Do you think women are underrepresented in design?

A: No not particularly. From my experience in the world of creative jobs I think it's pretty even. I think there's been a slow change to include more women in technical roles and offices but in my experience, that’s been accomplished. The only places I see as not having changed that much are those that are considered 'dirty' jobs like lifting / manual labour / workshop jobs I believe that currently there are more women in the design industry then there were in previous years and women are celebrated more for their work. There are also a lot more women led design companies now but still nowhere near as much as men Probably, I can’t imagine a man designing a tampon or something to ease cramps because they haven't experienced it, but for cars or chairs etc... they should just make sure they have a woman on the design team to make sure that her experiences and opinions get heard Q: Do you think you could/would want to change the gender issues in design?

A: Nah, I think it's fine and as long as I'm considered equal to those male counterparts for a job then it's fair

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I would like to, but I don’t think there is anything I could do personally and I don’t really know a great deal about it I don’t think I personally could as I don’t know enough about it, but once I learned more I'd probably be more inclined to try and change things Q: Do you plan on having children?

A: Hell yeah I guess in the future but not considering it at this moment in time Yah Q: Do you plan to go back to work after maternity leave?

A: Probably yeah, depends on life at the time, if it feels right, if we can afford it etc Depends on my situation at the time. If I am working myself then I would like to work from home for a while before returning but if I don’t work for myself then I will return when necessary Of course Q: What is your ultimate career goal?

A: I have no idea, other than to be a designer, maybe freelance work? Mm product design or furniture, preferably home ware but not against moving around to find my 'calling' To work for myself and create my own furniture design business To be able to support myself and my family, and be able to help out family members e.g. lend money if need be without having to worry about affecting my lifestyle So, my ultimate goal is to be able to do what I love and be comfortable money wise as a result of it. Ideally, I'd like to be a self-employed designer that can make what I like and be able to sell that on a small scale with a large variation between projects. However, I'd definitely love having some more commercial pieces stocked in large shops so I can be all smug knowing that I have designed something that may be in houses all around the country. I want to be one of the best and for my ultimate goal I probably would have to be. I don’t doubt it either. I will get there.

So, to clarify, a designer maker definitely not just a designer and definitely not just a maker.

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