Women-Centric Research: What, Why, How

Key Insights

• •

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

• •

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

• •

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

• •

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

• •

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

• •

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

• •

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

• •

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

• •

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

• •

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

Notable Quotes