Why we fail to design for women—the dangers of de-biasing
Why do we fail to design for women? The dangers of de-biasing, and missed opportunities to close the gender data gap
As I moved into shoulder stand during a Zoom Yoga session several months ago, I remember the instructor saying, “if you’re menstruating, avoid this pose,” and then suggested something alternative those students could do instead. In that moment, I thought: my yoga app doesn’t give any such advice during shoulder stands.
Why is it, that we fail to design for women? A popular answer to this question is examples of the gender data gap. I often notice missed opportunities of collecting women’s related data — the fitness app which doesn’t know that I can’t do burpees when I’m menstruating, or the bank that may not pick up the fact that someone is on maternity leave.
Missing data isn’t the only problem, however. In speaking with a healthcare data expert recently, I learned that not only might women be excluded from the research — if they are in fact included, demographic data is often removed from data models in an effort to de-bias the data. Although well intentioned — because de-biasing is a huge movement towards increasing inclusion — this can be extremely damaging. Only through collecting demographics data, have healthcare experts learned about racial disparities among maternal mortality rates. And only by continuing to do so will they be able to learn why this is the case.
Similar to de-biasing data, design teams often design for the “genderless” in an effort to be inclusive. But humans have attached sex and gender identities. So designing for the genderless often means designing for the default — men.
This is why several yoga apps — even with an overwhelming female audience — fail to advise against shoulder stands during menstruation.
Why is it that we fail to design for women? The answer to this is probably a much longer list (which I intend on making), but here were some thought starters. Why do you think we fail to design for women?
This post is an excerpt from Unconforming: a newsletter about Design for Women. Unconforming goes out every two weeks and also shares learnings from experts, job and other opportunities, examples and articles — all to make an impact in the women’s space. Sign up here to get it in your inbox!
