There is a gender imbalance in both the design workplace and design education. Design Council figures for the UK reveal that whilst 83% studying design and creative arts subjects at university are female, 78% of the design workforce is male. Only 15% of Creative Directors are women and the lack of females in senior positions contributes to a gender pay gap.

This webinar explores the reasons for this mismatch and discusses ways in which the imbalance can be addressed. The aim is to raise awareness and propose new solutions by looking critically at design histories, analysing the present and mapping out the future. Given the new pressures of homeworking under lockdown, the issue of women in design is more pressing than ever.

The session is hosted by Professor Anne Massey and includes contributions from Kigge Hvid (Denmark, CEO and co-founder of INDEX: Design to Improve Life®), Dr Elizabeth Darling (Oxford Brookes University, co-editor of Suffragette City: Women, Politics and the Built Environment and AA Women in Architecture 1917-2017), Rina Arya (Professor of Visual Culture and Theory, University of Huddersfield) and Libby Sellers (curator and author of Women Design).