Women-Centric Research: What, Why, How
Summary
The inclusion of women in research has existed in narrow and siloed ways, if at all. Usually we include women when the project has an active gender focus (often in international development projects), or in an effort towards more inclusive research. But, we are not practising inclusion of women unless it is deeply embedded in both, the way we do research and what we do research about. In this session, Mansi will share Women-Centric Design: a methodology and toolkit to equip designers and decision makers to actively design with and for women. Drawing from her research with gender and feminist practitioners around the world, Mansi will introduce researchers to themes that are core to serving women as equal users of our design — and the role research can play in broadening our project scopes so we can shift away from overlooking women towards truly including them.
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
"How can we not forget about women?"
"Male universality is one of the leading causes of gender gaps."
"Women are often treated as a minority, which sets them up to be forgettable, dispensable, and ignorable."
"Safety is often forgotten because it’s taken for granted, but ignoring safety leads to disengagement and diminished access."
"Women are living nonlinear lives—career breaks, health cycles—that standard designs do not account for."
"Women experience systemic inequality simply by navigating a world that isn’t designed for them."
"Trust is about perceptions versus realities shaped by higher expectations and harsher consequences for women."
"We cannot practice women-centricity without including an active role for men."
"Solutions range on a spectrum from offensive and impartial to informed and holistic toward women."
"Start every project by asking What about women?"
Or choose a question:
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