Design for (and with) women
What the pandemic has taught us
By Juliana Saldarriaga — Innovation Manager at A Piece of Pie
Luz, a Colombian woman I recently interviewed for an ethnographic study, contracted COVID-19 in December 2020. She tells me it was a mild case, which sounds like a relief, but not really when she starts describing her current situation. She is a single mother of two young children who lives with and looks after her parents and her aunt, an Alzheimer’s patient diagnosed almost a decade ago. Luz is obviously in charge of the household and I cannot help but wonder what happened during her “COVID days”, as she calls them. She acknowledges my surprise and smiles slightly before saying, “Let’s just say I won’t have many happy memories about that Christmas.”
Luz’ story reflects the reality of what many Latin American women are facing due to the pandemic. These are situations that should not go by unnoticed, ones we must reflect on as we commemorate this year’s International Women’s Day and the impact of our roles as ethnographers, designers, and problem-solvers.
What we know: In Latin America, the pandemic struck women the hardest
Our fieldwork proves that women have been more impacted by the effects of COVID than men as well as the data and evidence revealed throughout 2020 by international and regional organisms such as UN Women:
- Female unemployment rate rose exponentially more than male (1). Many women in the region had no choice but to leave the workforce to look after their children and their education. Additionally, because women’s salary is still seen as complementary to that of their husbands’ (the “real” breadwinners), employers are more likely to let go of women while ignoring the existence of same-sex couples and single mothers.
- In many countries, the first economic sectors reactivated after months of lockdown are historically masculinized sectors, such as construction and transportation (2). Historically feminized sectors (tourism and beauty, for example) were regarded as non-essential and were required to wait. Claudia, a peluquera or hairdresser, was impatient and upset when we interviewed her in the summer of 2020: “Why don’t authorities develop safety measures so we can resume working? This is better than regarding us as non-essential services: they are as essential as anything because that’s how we make a living!”
- In Latin America, 9 in 10 infirmary professionals are women and women make up 70% of the sanitary services sector (3). Meaning women are more exposed to the pandemic; not only are they looking after COVID-19 patients, but they also oversee washing medical equipment and cleaning hospital facilities.
- The quality of non-COVID-19 healthcare services was overlooked during the virus outbreak and its subsequent peaks. This has been a struggle for chronic patients as well as their caretakers, who we discovered, through fieldwork, were on the brink of burnout from accessing treatment and keeping the anxious patient calm. The caretaker role is assumed by a female relative (4), like Luz and Gloria, who share, “I usually have to go to the clinic and show my face for three days until the paperwork is right and we can access the treatment. Now I’m supposed to do this over the phone?!”
What we should know: Latin American women are empowered and resilient
Colombian women often describe themselves, their female relatives, and friends as berracas, loosely translated as empowered or tenacious. It is a description that can be applied to Latin American women in general, considering how they’ve dealt with the pandemic:
- Women in the region represent 95.5% of preschool teachers and 78.2% of schoolteachers (5), and it is no secret educators in the region and all over the world had just a few weeks to adjust to lockdown. “We had three weeks to change absolutely everything,” says Carmen, school principal. “And because some of the kids didn’t have computers at home, we sent them instructions via text message and asked them to send us pictures of their schoolwork. And this was our reality for months.” Like teachers across the continent, Carmen and her staff have demonstrated creativity and resilience.
- Additionally, 42% of women entrepreneurs migrated their business online during the pandemic (6), something that is definitely no temporary measure. During a project to assess the digital savviness of small businesses in Colombia, we met Adriana, who owned a tailor shop and prior to the pandemic had never considered going online. “I’ve had the same clients for twenty years. I don’t even have to promote my business!” She tells us that, due to lockdown, she had to open an Instagram account, which felt gruesome at first but later realized technology was not some unattainable thing. She now has a QR code displayed on her physical shop for contactless payment, is getting better at using hashtags to attract new customers and is also considering launching a website with a shopping cart.
What we can do: designing for (and with) women
The challenges Latin American women are facing, and how tenaciously they are facing them, is something that should be considered when designing for and with these women. At A Piece of Pie, we have come up with a few powerful recommendations organizations can follow to design solutions and experiences (for women in Latin America and beyond!):
- Women may use their mobile devices as much as men, but they are more likely to use it for staying in touch and connecting with family, friends, and the community. While men lean on using it for transactional purposes, such as email and banking. Thus women are likelier to participate in online communities in which they can find support but also support others. When designing these communities, women appreciate being given a more participative role (as one charming, elderly woman we interviewed put it, “No more online courses to fill up my time! Let me share what I already know!”). A hypothesis we have here is the way to convince men to participate in online communities is via the women in their lives.
- Women who’ve had to reinvent themselves due to pandemic are more likely to connect with organizations, businesses, and brands that speak about a “new normal” rather than “going back”. An area in which women expect and invite radical change is sustainability and sustainable products.
- Finally, just as mid-twentieth century feminists questioned the idea of the abstract, rational “individual” proposed by economics (7), we too must question the idea of the neutral, universal user promoted by user-centered design.
Regardless of the project we are executing, at A Piece of Pie we always make sure to implement a gender approach. Do not hesitate to contact us if you want to learn more about this approach at juliana.saldarriaga@piecepie.com
References
3: https://www.un.org/es/coronavirus/articles/igualdad-genero-covid-19
4: https://apieceofpie.medium.com/who-takes-care-of-the-caretakers-d69b05c27d8e
7: http://www.generoycomercio.org/areas/investigacion/Salvador07.pdf
