Summary
DesignOps practitioners have helped advocate for inclusive design practices over the past several years. Still, key women-centric barriers persist such as safe access, time poverty, and female biological differences. To meet women’s needs, our design methodologies must ensure an inclusive lens from the start. In her talk, Mansi will share how DesignOps can engage their teams in embedding applicable insights, drawn from feminist practice, into their existing processes and toolkits. Attendees will leave with tools to: Learn from non-design disciplines Identify how our current methodologies overlook women Apply key design principles to create using a women-centric lens
Key Insights
-
•
Design methodologies often forget about women, leading to systemic biases across technology, finance, and healthcare.
-
•
Gender-neutral designs frequently cater to male experiences, resulting in one-size-fits-all solutions that exclude women's needs.
-
•
Women's lives are non-linear, yet many services fail to accommodate the unique challenges women face in their careers and personal lives.
-
•
Community and relationality play a crucial role in women's experiences; effective designs should leverage these social bonds.
-
•
Safety, both emotional and physical, is a fundamental need that is frequently overlooked in design processes.
-
•
Trust must be rebuilt in systems that have historically failed women, particularly in finance and healthcare.
-
•
Women experience higher degrees of time poverty due to societal roles; designs should account for this disparity.
-
•
Historical context and existing gender norms need to be challenged and redefined in product offerings for women.
-
•
Involvement of men is essential to address gender equity issues and to foster a collective responsibility towards change.
-
•
An open-source framework aimed at increasing access to gender-focused design is being developed to encourage further innovation.
Notable Quotes
"We forget about women a lot in technology, finance, and healthcare."
"Our design methodologies often produce one-size-fits-man outcomes."
"When we start every project by asking 'What about women?', new possibilities emerge."
"Engaging with a women's centric lens can transform how we approach design."
"Safety is often taken for granted, but it is crucial for women's access to services."
"Many women's experiences are discounted in traditional designs, leading to inadequate solutions."
"The role of community is vital; women thrive on learning together and supporting each other."
"Women's lives are not linear, and our designs should reflect that complexity."
"If we see men and boys as part of the problem, they must also be part of the solution."
"The ultimate goal is a world where women's centricity is ingrained in design methodologies, making such frameworks unnecessary."
More Videos
"I want to co-create new conversations, not just be included in existing ones."
Jennifer Strickland Lesley-Ann NoelFireside Chat: How Design Addresses a World on Fire
March 18, 2022
"The Boy Scout approach applies: you're done when you can't take anything else out."
Jaime CreixemsBest Practices when Creating and Maintaining a Design System
June 7, 2023
"It’s critical to center the voices and experiences of those directly impacted by trauma in research processes."
Uday Gajendar Rachael Dietkus, LCSW Dr. Dawn Emerick Dawn E. Shedrick, LCSWLeading through the long tail of trauma
July 13, 2022
"Trust is critical for marketplaces like Thumbtack, where customers invite pros into their homes."
Katie HansenExperimental research: techniques for deep, psychology-driven insights
March 12, 2025
"It's about sensing and responding to patterns of emergence."
Dave MaloufTheme 3: Introduction and Provocation
January 8, 2024
"We must continuously improve our services, making the act of service a part of our everyday work."
Jeff SussnaWhat DesignOps Can Learn From DevOps
November 6, 2017
"The practice of design doesn't neatly break up into compartmental units like code does."
Dave MaloufClosing Keynote: Amplify. Not Optimize.
October 24, 2019
"Being participatory does not mean that you’re being trauma responsive."
Sarah FathallahA Typology of Participation in Participatory Research
March 28, 2023
"We just can't accomplish these goals if we don't understand and appreciate the complexity of the people we're designing for"
Alba VillamilStereotyped by Design: Pitfalls in Cross-Cultural User Research
March 30, 2020
