Gender biased boxes are present globally. This is a collaborative project with the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) between the University of Johannesburg (RSA) and Goalmouth university (UK).
Unequal stories is a project funded by the Globall Rhallanges Reasearch Fund (GCRF) is a international project involving the Falmouth University based in the UK and the University of Johannesburg based in South Africa. This aims to explore gender diversity and representation across various design fields, industries, and disciplines in higher education. In previous years the Product/ Industrial design field has been dominated by men. In recent years more women have started to be more present and even outnumbering their male counterparts in Higher Education, yet the industry men still have the majority.
What I have found from social media interactions and small interviews is that female industrial designers are positioned in a preconceived box of making things look good, or to do some design work, while men are placed in a box of being able to do more than just design but to manufacture as well. This plays on the idea that women are incapable of manufacturing and hard labor and should stick to making beautiful things on the computer or doing “nice” sketches, while men on the other hand are obligated to design and manufacture. Yet when woman do work in manufacturing it us still then limited to the assembly line.
From a young age people learned that genders have roles. This can clearly be seen in the toys sold for boys and girls. It not only influences the children playing with the toys but also the parents who are buying the toys. Later on most stationary and is once again mostly used to divide the genders into boxes. The skill distribution between the hard and soft design is mostly dictated by men.
Insight
People are placed in a preconceived box from the get-go. Women are mostly placed in a soft box, which entails making things look pretty, doing little design work, doing soft design. While men, on the other hand, are putting a hard box. The labor box, the doing box, this design and manufacture box, this is especially seen in the industry.
This preconceived box does not form overnight. They are formed from an early age with the toys that were interacted with by children, the now Grown Ups. These toys developed a different set of skills with different associated roles. The roles also formed because the parents who bought these toys were also indoctrinated to similar toys with a similar associated role. And thus, the skills developed between boys and girls differed through the years forming these boxes, where they are still seen today.
Response
My response is a provocative image that situated in a world that perpetuated on the road and enforcing the idea of putting people in boxes. In this world children are genetically bred to the full a predetermined role for a preconceived by the parents. The feeding pipes that control the genetics for these babies are controlled by you the viewer. As the viewer you decide how you shape the future generations and if they are also being placed in similar boxes, as you have been placed in today.
My response is a provocative image that situated in a world that perpetuated on the road and enforcing the idea of putting people in boxes. In this world children are genetically bred to the full a predetermined role for a preconceived by the parents. The feeding pipes that control the genetics for these babies are controlled by you the viewer. As the viewer you decide how you shape the future generations and if they are also being placed in similar boxes, as you have been placed in today.
Hard or soft the roles we are forced to bear.
Hard or soft the roles we are taught to wear.
Hard or soft the roles we are taught to wear.
References
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