picture can be painted, with only 21% of registered architects and 26% of Industrial Designers being women (Property24, 2016; SABS Design Institute, 2008). For products, systems, and services to fulfill and innovatively meet the needs of as many people as possible, design teams themselves need to be diverse (Dietrichson, 2017; Moseley & Campbell, 2019). The scarcity of women’s tacit knowledge due to their underrepresentation in design teams creates a gender ‘data gap’, rendering many experiences unaccounted for and resulting in the development of products and services that do not meet the specific needs of, or further disadvantage women and other minority groups (Kemp, 2019; Ely, 2015; Criado-Perez, 2019). This article presents Unequal Stories, a collaborative research project between the University of Johannesburg (UJ)8 and Falmouth University9 in the United Kingdom (UK). Funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF), this collaborative research project investigated gender diversity, equality, and representation across various design disciplines within higher education and industry. Prompted by the alarming yet limited or outdated statistical data surrounding Gender in Design (especially in South Africa), the Unequal Stories research aimed to: 1. Assess gender diversity, equality, and representation across different creative disciplines in higher education and industry in the UK and South Africa. 2. Explore attitudes and perceptions towards gender across different creative disciplines in higher education and industry in the UK and South Africa. 3. Identify themes and insights pointing to potential problems or opportunities. 4. Compare and contrast the findings crossculturally. 5. Respond to the findings through a pedagogic and/or industry intervention/s. An overview of the project’s phases and activities from 2019-2022 is provided. 8 Co-researchers: Ms Ashton Margarete Moseley, Ms Kimberly Bediako, Dr Angus Campbell 9 Co-researchers: Dr Robyn Cook, Professor David Prior, Mr Bryan Clark, Dr Laura Hodsdon Introduction Design has an important role to play in bringing about sustainable change and design education offers valuable and critical approaches to address social problems. As societies advance, so do designers’ thinking about design praxis and the methods they engage with. Currently, communities and various sectors are appointed to approach social problems by recognising the diverse and intersectional contributing factors, to develop inclusive and sustainable solutions. The United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal #5 aims to achieve gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls by 2030, by ensuring women’s full and effective participation in, and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic, and public life. Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable world. Gender bias is a form of unconscious bias that occurs when one makes evaluations of another person or group based on gender-based stereotypes (Madsen & Andrade, 2018; Reiners, 2021). In professional settings, gender bias typically refers to the preferential treatment of white, heterosexual men. Recent studies have highlighted significant gender disparities and biases and inequalities within the global design workforce. Defined by some as “irrefutably patriarchal” (Sellers 2017:7), the design industry as a whole has historically been a male-dominated arena with inherent gender biases. Over the past 20 years, student enrollment ratios in higher education institutions have shown a significant shift towards a more even gender split among the student body. Globally, however, the same transformation has not been reflected in the industry, suggesting a “leak” in the pipeline that carries students from school through university and on to a job in the industry (Moseley & Campbell, 2019; Blickenstaff, 2005). This notion of a leaky pipeline was amplified in the 2018 Design Economy Report (Design Council, 2018), which revealed that while 63% of all UK art and design graduates are female, the UK design workforce comprised a 78:22 (male to female) gender split. In South Africa, although research and data on this topic are scarce, a similar Teaching Innovation for the 21st Century | Showcasing UJ Teaching Innovation Projects 2022 51
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