Key Insights

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  Despite many women-focused projects, women’s unique needs and barriers often remain unaddressed due to fragmented approaches.

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  Male universality—the assumption male experience represents all—is a leading cause for gender gaps in design and research.

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  Safety is a paramount yet often overlooked need for women, extending beyond physical safety to psychological and communal safety.

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  Women’s lives are nonlinear with distinct career, health, and social rhythms often ignored by standard designs, causing extra burdens.

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  Trust gaps for women arise from systemic inequalities that cause them to internalize failure and doubt despite structural shortcomings.

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  Including men actively in women-centric design is critical; they are part of the problem and the solution.

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  Practical examples like Sehat Kahani’s telehealth and Cyber Rwanda’s reproductive education illustrate successful integration of non-negotiables.

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  The Women’s Centric Eye framework helps teams assess solutions on a spectrum from offensive to holistic regarding women’s inclusion.

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  Intersectionality must be central in research methods to capture diverse lived experiences of women across identities.

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  Time, cognitive bandwidth, and quantification pressures are major barriers to implementing women-centric design thinking in practice.

Notable Quotes