Designing Gender

Sarah Elsie Baker is Senior Lecturer and Research Fellow at Media Design School in Auckland, New Zealand. Her research interests are focused on design and social inequality, specifically in relation to user experience and design futures. She teaches design research and methods, as well as courses exploring gender and design.

Acknowledgements
Preface

1. Gender, Feminism and Things
Introduction: The Complexities of Sex and Gender
Defining Gender
Feminism and Systems of Oppression
Gendered Things
Case Study: Gender Swapping, Karin Ehrnberger, Stockholm
Gendered Processes
Interview: Lindsey Brinkworth, Senior Researcher, Magic+Might, Chicago
Designing Intersectional Gender Justice
Activity 1: Gender Journal
Activity 2: Norm Discussion Cards

2. Women, Craft, and Technology
Introduction: Questioning Design (His)stories
Craft as Feminist Resistance
Case Study: Buen Vivir-Centric Design, Diana Albarrán González, Mexico/Aotearoa
Redesigns and DIY Aesthetics
Cyberfeminism and Gender Hacking
Interview: Cornelia Sollfrank, Artist and Researcher, Berlin
Activity 1: Pick a Theme/Make a Zine
Activity 2: Hack It Game

3. Women and Design as Profession
Introduction: Gender in the Design Industries
Women and the Professionalisation of Design
Design Knowledge and the Making of the Professional
Masculinities at Work in Design Cultures
Interview: In-ah Shin, Graphic Designer, Feminist Designer Social Club. Seoul
Addressing Inequality in the Workplace
Case Study: Designers Speak (Up) Catherine Griffith, Aotearoa New Zealand
Challenging Gender Norms in Professional Design Practice
Activity 1: Situational Knowledge Map
Activity 2: Listening Positionality Exercise

4. Making Gender Inequality Visible
Introduction: Gender Justice as a Global Issue
Data, Power and Invisibility
Interview: Brindaalakshmi K, Thematic Lead, Point of View, Chennai
Design and the Gender Data Gap
Feminist Counter-data and Queering AI
Visualising Inequality
Case Study: Visualizing Gender-based Violence, Nepal
Activity 1: Queering Algorithms
Activity 2: Gendered Life Data Drawing

5. Feminist Design Futures
Introduction: Design and the Future
Speculative Futures and Design Fictions
Speculative Design and Inequality
Interview: Luiza Prado de O. Martins, Artist and Researcher, Brazil/Germany
Feminist Visions of the Future
Futuring Tools and Approaches to Time
Case Study: Freak Science, Mary Maggic, Vienna
Speculative Design and Gender
Activity 1: Participatory Futures Tool
Activity 2: Speculating with the Past

6. Sustainable Practice and Design Beyond Binaries
Introduction: Feminism and Ecological Crisis
Towards Non-Binary Design
More-Than-Human Entanglement, Post-nature and Queer Ecology
Interview: Sixto-Juan Zavala, Designer and Illustrator, Texas/London
Indigenous Worldviews, Design and Becoming-With
Case Study: Lehuauakea, New Mexico, US and Papa’ikou, Hawaii
Unmaking Design Practice
Activity 1: Mapping Entanglements
Activity 2: Feral Experiments

Epilogue
List of Figures
References