How women-led design approaches can transform communities

The word ‘gender’ brings two images, two colours and multiple visuals to my mind. It also raises a question: Can gender influence Design? Apparently, it does. People often say that women are more sensitive to design than men. I choose to disagree here because I believe that our sensibilities are not gender specific. In fact, they are governed by the masculine and feminine energies that exist in all of us. These energies shape our awareness, our ways of seeing, and, most importantly, our mindfulness, an essential aspect of meaningful design.

Design as a discipline stands on the pillars of sensitivity, social awareness, cultural awareness and ideology. Design is much more than it seems. It is not, or cannot be, as simple as pink and blue. The pillars are the deep-seated conditioning of societal values, including caste, class, culture and traditions. Design is about broadening one’s boundaries by first acknowledging them, then challenging them, and finally breaking them. To understand design in the context of gender, we must first look within and recognise our deep social and cultural conditioning.

History tells us that design has always been about social transformation. It is one of the key forces behind human progress. In fact, we often understand the story of civilisation through its arts and designs, through how people shaped their tools, homes, clothes and communication. Yet with every cultural shift comes a new kind of conditioning that shapes how we see both design and gender.

My years of teaching design students at Anant National University have taught me to unlearn many assumptions. Students come to a design school hoping to find their creative path. They often come with a lot of pressure and baggage about their background, family values, cultural habits and personal beliefs. Although this diversity results in rich classroom discussions, it also makes us see the deeply ingrained nature of this conditioning.

It is not the gender that poses the challenge. It is our upbringing that shapes our sensitivities and openness. Over time, students learn to question their assumptions, listen more attentively and discover how their thinking impacts how they design. I have observed many times that male students often come with honest and necessary reflections about their personal perceptions. Not only that, but they also demonstrate empathy, patience, and collaboration. What they all eventually discover is that good design is not about gender; it is about awareness, inclusivity and humanity.

Over a period of time, I have understood two important things. First, that gender, at its essence, is about compassion and empathy. Secondly, that feminine energy, no matter who carries it, often brings inclusiveness, sensitivity and a deeper awareness of social needs. This energy encourages designers to connect with crafts, people and the world around them. It helps them create designs that are meaningful, humane and sustainable.

If we look back, many designers have embodied this awareness and used design as a tool for change. Two women who stand out to me are Neelam Chhiber and Zaha Hadid. Both worked in very different contexts, yet both used design as a way to include, empower and respond to society.

Neelam Chhiber, one of India’s most inspiring social designers and co-founder of the Industree Foundation, has shown how design can transform lives. Trained at the National Institute of Design, she moved beyond creating products to designing systems of empowerment. Through Industree, she has helped thousands of rural women artisans gain ownership of their work, form producer collectives and access fair markets. Her design process begins with empathy and ends in collaboration. Chhiber’s work reflects a feminine way of thinking, characterised by a relational, nurturing and inclusive approach. She doesn’t design for people; she designs with them. By placing women artisans at the centre of production, she challenges traditional economic hierarchies and replaces competition with cooperation. Her model turns design into a social ecosystem, one that values care as much as creativity.

On the other hand, Zaha Hadid transformed the field of architecture with her bold and free imagination and fluid, futuristic forms. Her work broke the rigid boundaries of modern architecture and challenged the gendered norms of the field. Years back, I visited her retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Impressed, I remember standing inside a kitchen she had designed. In her vision, the kitchen was not a separate, hidden corner that we generally come across. It was a part of the home’s living space. The heart of the house. It made the role of the cook, often a woman, visible and central to family life. Through her architecture, Zaha gave space, literally and symbolically, to those who were traditionally confined.

Both Neelam Chhiber and Zaha Hadid, in very different ways, show how awareness and empathy can transcend gender. Their work demonstrates that design, when guided by compassion or courage, becomes a powerful tool for transformation, a meeting point of form, spirit and society.

I feel design is about the approach and mindfulness, and not gender.

(The writer is a Professor, Centre of Visual Arts, Anant National University)