In the late 1990s, a design conference in Toronto planned to have no female keynote speakers, because, as one organizer kindly informed me, "we only want the best." I suggested they invite New Zealand economist Marilyn Waring, who after her speech received the only standing ovation of the event.
The point about inadequate representation is that sometimes the rules favour one gender by accident, as when it is decided that all firemen must be over 5'10" tall. Forcibly inserting females into such a situation can result in clarification of the real job criteria, when it turns out that some women 5"3" are perfectly able to crawl on their bellies in the dark through smoke while dragging oxygen tanks and carrying a hefty accident victim.
In terms of design, it may be that some subjects are more attractive to one gender than another. Forcing a better gender representation in that case would admit fresh subjects, not just different people. If a profession prides itself on creative thinking, it is perverse to seek to eliminate variety by inviting only the usual suspects.
Thanks,
Heidi Overhill
I'll try to post this up on Academia.edu soonish:
Heidi Overhill, “Hard & Soft: Woman and Industrial Design,” in Shaping the 90s: Towards a New Design Curriculum. (Ottawa, ON: Carleton University School of Industrial Design, 1992): 35-42.
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From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and related research in Design <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Bijan Aryana <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: June 13, 2014 2:17 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: A turning point?
Yes, this can be true. Of course I am happy that I considered the issue of
"gender" as one of the main factors of the future design. However, I should
admit that having rules for an equal distribution among genders (for
example in a conference or in a committee) sometimes is not the best
solution. Such kind of participation is to some extent artificial.
What I was trying to say in video was something else. I was trying to say
that we will see this equality naturally and as a result of "new social
structure" in the world. When we count the number of women in an
organization and then ask that organization to have more females, I think
that we actually accept that equality between genders is not existed in the
society and we want to fix it in the organizations. These two concepts are
somehow different.
Bijan
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