Made in Patriarchy: Toward a Feminist Analysis of Women and Design

“Silence Of Academy”: Expressing Harassment Through Collective Design Process

“…Early criticism of man-dominated design discipline focused on the man-generated design practice which excluded female designers from technology-oriented design areas by associating them with soft and domestic fields such as fashion, jewellery and crafts (Kaygan, 2009). Other feminist critiques and projects followed soon after in the forms of writing women into design history and design theory (Buckley, 1989;Kirkham, 1996), reflecting upon the demographic information of women and men in the design industry related to production and technology (Attfield, 1989) and focusing on the division between the private and public realm that secludes women indoors whilst liberating men in social life (Hayden, 1982). Finally, the other critiques were on writing about how aesthetic taste is taken for granted and working on the commercial side of design that uses women as objects of desire in advertisements of designer goods (Sparke, 1995).…”

“…More importantly, feminist design scholarship and practice still lack direct contribution to women's resistance against inequalities in socio-political realm whereas design has a direct impact on the social construction of our visual, material and spatial environments. As Buckley (1989) pointed out, the current situation still requires more elaborate research, new redefinitions of what constitutes design, and a widening of the borders of design concerning its relationship to other disciplines-such as politics and gender studies.…”

“…Feminist design does not only entail engendering designed artefacts or increasing the number of women working in a male-oriented profession, it also means exercising politics in daily life by utilising design for gender emancipation. Gender activism in design cannot function effectively unless crossing the boundaries of the design discipline as Buckley (1989) stressed long ago, so we should first understand the issue of oppression towards women, not only in the discipline but also in everyday life. Then one can act upon the problem using design tools as the medium, not as a dominator but a catalyst; not by exploiting and representing others, but by contributing to their action and intervening from within a shared realm.…”

‘A feminine touch’: gender, design and the ocean liner

“…8 However, the role of gender in relation to public spaces remained comparatively overlooked, when compared to the rich seam of material related to gender and the home. This, it could be argued, replicates the troubled boundaries between the so-called, 'twin spheres' of male/public and female/private.…”

The Androchair: Performing Gynaecology through the Practice of Gender Critical Design

“…This research strand criticizes how male-designed medical technologies shaped and still shape the experiences of women as patients. Feminist design historians stress that men's superior position in society has been fundamental to how artefacts have been designed (Buckley 1986;Kirkham 1996;Sparke 1995). Here, women have had very little or no influence, even regarding the artefacts that are designed for women and women's needs.…”