Design That Sees Beyond Gender

In today’s increasingly gender fluid world, Donna West explores the effect it has on how we approach design, and what we can do to make it a lot more diverse

- Donna West

2018. The year that witnessed the Women’s March, Beyonce’s empowering set at Coachella and a defiant global female movement in the form of #MeToo. Coincidentally, it also marked the 100-year anniversary of the female right to vote. Following years of relentless campaigning, in 1918 8.5m British women finally secured the right to have their say. Fast forward to 2018, and the world is a very different place. Women are now a lot more free to express themselves. To live independent lives. We are the most powerful consumers on the planet, accounting for 85 per cent of all purchasing decisions [1]. And yet, the question remains: have we come as far as we would like to think? As an industry, is there more we can and should do to embrace equality?