Engendering digital connectivity: The role of women in designing gender-inclusive use cases (Part 2)

• by Akhand Tiwari and Ankita Bhat
• Feb 28, 2024
• 5 min

Did you know why women comprise of only 30% of the tech workforce and only 10% in leadership? In the previous blog of this series, we discussed that most designs in the digital world center around men. The digital world’s design is often gender-biased and, excludes women’s needs and experiences. In this part, we analyze the reasons behind the gender gap and discuss the impact of including more women in design teams where use cases are conceptualized and developed.

Why is the digital world not gender-intentional?

One reason behind the design flaw is women’s underrepresentation in digital designs and processes. This stems from various barriers, which include social norms, such as restrictions on mobility and access to assets that underpin all other barriers to digital participation. Women comprise only 30% of the tech workforce, with only 10% in leadership. This underrepresentation also results from socialization from an early age and stereotypes reflected in the entire digital ecosystem—from education to gendered digital marketing and video games. 

A three-decade-long global analysis shows that 44.2% of 133 AI systems displayed gender bias, which reinforced harmful gender stereotypes. UNESCO’s report reveals that the development of AI and algorithms, a critical component of digital spaces, is often skewed toward male preferences and perspectives. The underrepresentation of women and their perspectives leads to biased results that do not effectively serve their needs. The results interpret the tech space as a gender-unintentional space where women are unwelcome.

This includes the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) sector, which is highly male-centric and fails to consider these challenges. Social norms discourage women from careers in technology or other digital fields and limit their opportunities and confidence to develop digital skills and engage with digital technologies.

Figure 1: Women’s underrepresentation in digital product design in India

Digital spaces that lack female tech designers tend to reduce women’s visibility. This leads to a scarcity of use cases. For instance, when prompted to generate images of judges, an AI image software produced pictures of female judges in only 3% of cases. Such digital technologies reproduce these prejudices and exacerbate them. It, thus, makes tech sectors even less gender inclusive. 

Women in design: Bridging the gap

When women are actively involved in the design process, they bring diverse perspectives that help create use cases for a broader audience. Studies show that when tech designers seek to address development issues, as seen in the case of health, male designers tend to focus on conditions that exclusively affect men. In contrast, women-led teams often address a broader spectrum, which includes requirements that affect both genders. 

An assessment of 200 companies under the Third Digital Inclusion Benchmark by the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA) shows that consistent interventions and promoting gender-balanced representation is crucial for making a meaningful impact on women’s digital inclusion. McKinsey & Company’s report on diversity highlights that organizations with gender-diverse teams are 48% more likely to outperform their peers. This also applies to the tech industry, where more inclusive design teams create products and services that resonate with a broader user base. 

A critical area where women’s high representation has significantly impacted use cases is the FemTech industry, which boasts more than 70% of companies with at least one female founder. FemTech companies, such as Maven Clinic, Peppy, Flo, and Clue, have been filling gaps that are yet to be addressed by pharmaceutical and HealthTech companies in maternal and menstrual health. They have improved care delivery and diagnosis by delivering culturally sensitive and tailored care, a clear link between women’s inclusion in digital design, improved outcomes for women, and more use cases of digital solutions.

HealthTech: Healthcare is a critical area where gender-responsive design is paramount. This is evident in menstrual tracking apps that initially lacked comprehensive features due to limited women’s input. Apple’s Health app, released in 2014, highlighted gender bias through the omission of menstrual cycle tracking despite its significance. This was likely influenced by a predominantly male workforce (70%). Healthcare apps have become more comprehensive with women as part of the design process. They offer insights into cycles, fertility, mood fluctuations, and personalized health recommendations. Health innovations must also be co-designed with women for greater uptake and enhanced use cases.

FinTech and AgriTech: Research on digital input loans reveals that limited data on women’s financial histories skews credit assessments toward men. This is ironic as extensive literature suggests that women are more likely to repay loans than men. Similarly, female farmers are less likely to apply for digital credit and thus receive lower amounts despite similar digital credit approval rates to men. The prioritization of gender intentionality in product design can promote gender equality in digital financial services and unlock an untapped market of underserved women. Also, an IMF paper finds that greater gender diversity in the executive board is associated with FinTech firms’ better performance.

EdTech: A notable example from the EdTech world is Coursera, which has a female founder motivated to make online education more accessible for underserved communities. Coursera now has more than 77 million registered students and partnerships with 200-plus institutions in 190 countries. Its global reach is constantly growing, with a valuation of almost USD 7 billion. Such women have established themselves as role models for other women to follow. Online education offers more flexibility in pace and schedule, which attracts many women. The insights gained from the EdTech sector can be applied to other areas where women are underrepresented to improve their participation and experience.

Men often design digital spaces for themselves by default. However, this blog shows the potential of women’s inclusion in design teams as the key to diverse and meaningful use cases. This comprises all the core and peripheral design elements: Product design, pricing, processes, people, place, physical evidence, promotion, and positioning. The examples in this blog show that the use cases for women have increased due to the right features in applications or better communication around digital products and services has enhanced the use cases for women.

Greater women’s representation in the digital design ecosystem can create more consumer-centric products and solutions that recognize and target women’s specific needs. Such products would lead to a less biased and more inclusive digital world, with improved digital opportunities for women and, meaning more use cases for them. We need higher representation of women in digital spaces and teams for this, which calls for more women in the STEM sector. By envisioning a future where women lead the design of digital innovations for the last mile, we can bridge the gender digital divide and promote digital inclusivity.