Could the design industry be the next sector to promote gender equality?
We’ve fought. We’ve won the right to vote. We’ve protested. We’ve achieved the right to equal education in the first world. But we’re still not equal to men, even in the workplace. This needs to change.
At Digital Influx, we are passionate about promoting gender equality in the workplace and encourage other businesses and industries to follow accordingly. Could the design industry be an upcoming industry which provides equality between men and women?
Did you know that on average across all industries, those who identify as men earn 9.3% more than those who identify as women bar the adult film industry- an industry stereotypically created for the pleasure of men? Did you know that women are still struggling to obtain the leading roles within industries while men are more likely to be allocated higher roles such as CEOs.
Digital Influx present a diverse team filled with both men and women of various racial backgrounds, and coming from different walks of life. This is what we believe all industries and companies should look like.
Design is stereotypically deemed an industry to be located in the female sphere and reminds us of areas like fashion and fine art, but if we add ‘technology’ next to it, the industry is socially considered to enter the male realm. Due to such gendered binaries within the world of design technology, only one in six women are tech specialists in the UK and only one in ten are IT leaders. Additionally, within the technology sector, female representation has stalled over the past ten years.
Unfortunately, yet non-surprisingly, there are far less women than men working in important technology and IT roles. Employers claim that they’re trying their best to employ more women in the tech industry, however this appears to defeat the point. Employers should not be trying to employ more women but should be doing so. Moreover, they shouldn’t want to employ a female identifier merely to present their companies as inclusive but because she may be perfectly suitable for the job. Thus, to ensure further employment of women in the technology sector it is necessary that the industry abolishes the stereotype of working in technology being a more masculine skill. There isn’t any conflict over the fact that women are suitably fitted to careers in design, so why shouldn’t they have jobs in design technology?
Despite the lack of female identifiers in the technology sector, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t any women currently working in design technology. What’s more is that some tech-minded women are at the forefront of huge technical companies. To prove so we interviewed Digital Influx’s Winnie Gomez.
Life as a woman in design
Winnie Gomez is the head of UX and Design at Digital Influx and has previously worked as a senior user researcher at Sofar Sounds. Winnie is one example proving that women can work in leading roles in the design industry.
So, what type of work does your job consist of?
“I co-ordinate the team, recruit, oversee product vision, and make sure that everyone is on track for delivery deadlines. I take care of the team’s well-being and ensure that everybody is working well together and that nobody is overworked.”
How did you find applying for a job in design as a woman? Did you experience any discrimination?
Winnie isn’t aware of experiencing any gender discrimination herself; “UX as a more modern industry hasn’t felt particularly male dominated. My masters in HCI was actually more female dominated. In terms of representation, it’s felt relatively equal gender-wise to me, although others may have had different experiences and take a different view. There seems to be more women in research. Men tend to dominate jobs in development and engineering within the design technology industry. However, I’d say as a whole within the industry, there are more men in the higher/leading roles, but the junior and mid levels are pretty much 50/50.”
Do you think the pay between men and women is equal?
“Pay within the industry is pretty unspoken but I wouldn’t be surprised to find that the men are most likely paid more. I know from male friends in UX that this can be the case.”
Are there any other women in your sector?
“The leadership teams tend to be all male though ¾ of women have roles in the sector. Here at Digital Influx Academy, the product team is equally male/female and the marketing team is mainly female. Our only developer is also a woman.”
Clearly Digital Influx are encouraging gender equality, but is there anything else you have noticed to say that the industry is doing more to make workplace better for those who identify as women?
“A lot of places are now doing training in unconscious-bias and applicants are interviewed by equal panels. I also believe that UX is a relatively gender equal industry- at least in junior and mid roles, and I’m encouraging more women to join the design team and go for leadership roles.”
More leading women in UX Design include Sharni Allen, Louisa Lombardo, Bettina Marson, and Hannah Hefferman.
While pay may still be less for those who identify as women, and the design industry may still have a long way to go to diminish gender inequalities, it appears that the design sector is on the right path to abolishing binaries. Digital Influx is a widely inclusive company and encourages all workplaces to do the same. It’s not about merely hiring more female identifiers, POC, LGBTQ identifiers, less-abled bodies, or working-class citizens for the sake of individual brands’ images, but it’s about hiring whoever’s the right person for the job without any discriminations or biases. So, as a society let’s keep fighting for equality in the workplace.
Author: Tilly O’Brien
