A guitar with ‘room for breasts’
Many instruments are optimized for male bodies, but St. Vincent's self-designed guitar is crafted to perfectly fit her form.
For even the most accomplished female pianists, playing Rachmaninoff, Liszt and other virtuosic compositions can be a struggle. The problem lies not in their musical abilities, but an inherent gender bias in the way pianos are designed: 87% of women pianists (compared to only 24% of men) have hand spans smaller than 8.5 inches, the size required to play a 10-note interval, according to a peer-reviewed Australian study.
Gender bias in instrument design, which can have a direct bearing on a musician’s performance, professional success and physical health, also manifests in guitars. In 2015, musician Annie Clark, better known as St. Vincent, brought the issue into the spotlight. Working with guitar manufacturer Ernie Ball Music Man, Clark tested several prototypes before arriving at a lighter model that can be played comfortably and a slimmer waist that flatters the guitarist's body. Calling the design both "gender-inclusive" and "ergonomic" in design, St. Vincent told She Shreds Media in 2016 “I think it’s great that there’s a tool on the market designed by someone with the female form.”
“There is room for a breast. Or two," she wrote on social media.
Cleats engineered for the female foot
Gender bias still prevails in athletic footwear, where most "unisex" shoes are often based on proportions of the male foot.
It’s hard to believe that, until recently, soccer cleats designed specifically for women were not widely available. Unlike running shoes, where women now have lots of choice, female soccer players had to make do with men’s shoes in smaller sizes or even cleats sized for children.
Witnessing this disparity led Laura Youngson, an entrepreneur with a physics degree, to form IDA Sports, a company producing quality footwear “for athletes who have traditionally been an afterthought” — or, in a word, women. Prior to launch in 2018, Youngson and co-founder Ben Sandhu consulted hundreds of podiatric surgeons, sports medicine specialists and female soccer players to learn about the specific characteristics of the female foot.
Ill-fitting cleats cause a range of foot issues, torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACLs) and even lower limb injuries, explains Youngson, who also runs the sports equality non-profit Equal Playing Field. Unsuitable stud placement can also leave female athletes more prone to ankle sprains and pain in the balls of their feet. Compared to men’s cleats, IDA’s boots have a narrower heel cup, wider toe box, more arch support and studs configured to account for the specific pressure loads from women’s bodies. The company also applied a similar research methodology to develop soccer cleats for girls.
Several big brands are attempting to catch up. For example, Puma launched its first, research-backed women’s soccer cleat in 2021. And Nike has since introduced a “women-focused football boot” reminiscent of the discontinued women's cleat it developed with soccer icon Mia Hamm in the 1990s.
Ergonomic office chair
A designer produced an office chair based on extensive studies of how women sit.
Creating the perfect ergonomic office chair has long been an obsession for designers. Attempts to improve on the wheeled William IV-style armchair engineered by Charles Darwin in the 1840s have flooded the market, with an abundance of options for every task, taste and budget.
In 2009, Swedish designer Monica Förster came up with the Lei, which she called “the world’s first ergonomic office chair for women.” Produced by Officeline, its curious form is based on her studies of women's sitting postures. Details include armrests placed where women tend to position their elbows, while a pronounced backrest cushion offers lumbar support for upright sitting.
Some critics wondered if such a gendered chair might inadvertently perpetuate sexism in the workplace. Nonetheless, Förster’s female-first approach is worth noting. After all, there was a time when it was acceptable for women to work on uncomfortable task chairs for the sake of aesthetics. For example, to complement his design of the Larkin Administration Building in Buffalo, New York, architect Frank Lloyd Wright produced a beautifully sleek yet oppressive, three-legged seat for the secretarial staff.
Wearable breast pump
Several women-led startups have been improving the design and portability of the notoriously cumbersome device.
It wasn’t long ago that nursing mothers had little choice but to contend with an archaic machine for collecting breast milk. Electric breast pumps were originally modeled on a contraption used for milking cows.
While the design improved in recent decades, working women had to rent and tote around pumps the size of a small suitcase if they had to go to the office or travel. “Barbaric” and “inconvenient” are terms often used to describe the devices, which were heavy, expensive and painful to use. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology even began hosting periodic hackathons dubbed “Make the breast pump not suck!”
In 2017, US-based Willow Innovations introduced a new, hands-free approach to breastfeeding. Instead of being tethered to a machine, the “mom-led” start-up debuted a quiet and spill-proof breast pump that slips inside a bra. Offering mobility and flexibility for moms on the go, it was listed in Time Magazine’s 25 Best Inventions of the Year, along with the iPhone X and Tesla Model 3. Willow became the first wearable breast pump approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2022.
Design-first health tracker
Fitness trackers have been around since the '60s but it's taken decades to develop wearable tech attuned to women’s cycles.
With the rise of “femtech,” a bounty of smart jewelry — essentially health monitors in the guise of fashion accessories — have surfaced in recent years. Among them is Bellabeat’s IVY+, a bracelet that collects health data to track periods and predict ovulation dates, among other features. Eschewing the screen-based watch design of popular fitness trackers, the wellness company’s co-founder Urška Sršen, a Slovenian sculptor-turned product designer, opted for a stylish tool that integrates with a mobile app. "Because we thought that a health tracker made for women should be elegant and non-intrusive, and provide data without unnecessary distractions,” she said on the company's website.
The combination of sleek minimalist aesthetics and tailored technology has proven successful for competitors in the space. The best-selling Oura Ring has a number of features in its accompanying app designed to help women gain a clearer understanding of their bodies. “Female physiology differs dramatically from male physiology, which makes it necessary to create algorithms that address the needs of both,” the Finnish brand’s chief product officer, Holly Shelton, explained in a press release.
Spacesuits that fit
NASA’s next generation spacesuits are unisex, but modular design better fits the female form.
As a matter of cost-efficiency, NASA spacesuits are designed to fit crew members of various sizes, regardless of gender. But in 2019, the sudden postponement of what was advertised as the “first all-female spacewalk,” due to spacesuit availability, became a rallying point for gender parity activists. Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton even tweeted “Make another suit.”
Making a new mission-ready spacesuit is a complex technical feat more akin to designing a car than sewing a garment. Called “Extravehicular Mobility Units,” the spacesuits worn outside a spacecraft essentially work as wearable life-support systems.
Axiom Space, a privately-owned space infrastructure developer, has been working on NASA’s next generation spacesuits for several years, building on a prototype unveiled by the US space agency in 2019. Designers behind the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU) say the suit considers female sizing with greater nuance.
“We are accommodating a wider range of people than we have in the past,” said Tammy Radford, a design lead in Axiom’s spacesuit program, in a phone interview with CNN. “Typically, women are of smaller stature in the percentile range, and we want to include more of them.” NASA uses the anthropomorphic standards data published by the US Army to determine sizing, like many design initiatives. With an outer layer developed in collaboration with Prada, Axiom’s suit employs a modular system of interchangeable components, so a crew member with, say, a short torso and longer legs can still have a well-fitted suit.
NASA has yet to announce the crew for Artemis III mission, but the AxEMU could be worn by the first woman on the moon should a female astronaut be selected.
In 2023, Axiom also worked with costume designer Esther Marquis to create a spacesuit cover (its exterior look) to promote its initial research. Marquis said the project later informed her designs for the Apple TV+ science fiction series, “For All Mankind.” “The Season 4 suit was designed along the modular idea, allowing us greater flexibility to accommodate for a smaller frame,” Marquis explained in an email to CNN, adding: “As technology progresses, we will see these components get smaller and weigh less allowing the suit to have greater flexibility and better fit. I am keen to address the female shape in a more comprehensive way as the show moves past current technology.”
A comfortable ride
Cycling pioneer Georgena Terry disrupted their industry with custom-designed bike frames and saddles.
Riding men’s bicycles in her youth gave Georgena Terry an early lesson on the importance of ergonomic fit. The mechanical engineer, who was recently inducted into the US Bicycling Hall of Fame, eventually taught herself how to customize frames and make bicycles by hand. In 1985, she launched Terry Precision Bicycles for Women after hearing about various aches and pains from fellow female cyclists. The tagline on her promotional materials reads: “Have fun, but first of all… have a fit”.
Terry’s maverick spirit and empathy for women, and other riders of smaller stature, resonated with an underserved audience and her custom bike business took off. Encouraged by the response, she also retooled the stock bike saddle for women’s comfort. Terry’s bestselling Liberator X for Women was featured in a 2020 Museum of Modern Art store collection. The hole at the seat’s center helps to relieve stress from the genital region and improve ventilation.
Getting the bike manufacturing industry to pay attention to female fit has been a challenge, explained Terry. “It is still a man's world — that has not changed,” she said in a 2013 documentary. “Some of that resistance is, frankly, more on the ‘don’t want to take the time to understand the science’ kind of level. And I find that very disappointing, because we're a society that keeps going out and saying we want the science.”
Blueprint for today’s shapewear
The origin story of Spanx reflects the hurdles facing female designers and entrepreneurs.
There is an object of curiosity at Museum of Modern Art’s current survey of game-changing design. Displayed alongside the Macintosh 128K Home Computer, the emoji and the Rainbow Flag is a pair of Spanx’s OnCore high-waisted mid-thigh shorts, representing designer Sara Blakely’s take on modern shapewear — undergarments designed to create a smoother silhouette.
Exhibit curators Paola Antonelli and Maya Ellerkmann describe Spanx’s success in the early 2000s as a tipping point for female designers. Of Blakely’s breakthrough product, they write in the exhibition notes: “Before Spanx, it was primarily men who made foundation garments and tested them on mannequins. By positioning Spanx as garments for women by a woman, the company aims to better address women’s needs.” They add: “However, the products still reinforce the pursuit of a socially-prescribed beauty via body manipulation.”
Spanx’s ascent from a passion project to a billion-dollar brand reflects the hurdles facing female designers and entrepreneurs. Blakely came up with the idea for Spanx while working as a door-to-door fax machine salesperson in Florida. In search of hosiery to wear under her dress pants, she trimmed off the feet from a pair of control-top pantyhose. From the ordeals of convincing a factory to produce a prototype of her so-called “power capri,” to drafting her own patent, cold-calling Neiman Marcus, getting a prototype in Oprah Winfrey’s hands and ultimately selling a majority stake of Spanx to fund her next venture, Blakely’s story reflects the tenacity and resourcefulness she needed to bring her designs to market. Spanx led the shapewear market in the 2000s and has undoubtedly changed it since. Brands like Skims and Yitty have launched in recent years, with all offering more inclusive sizing.
Improved mammogram
A team of women came up with a mammography system that makes the breast examinations less intimidating.
Mammogram screening has been proven to significantly reduce breast cancer fatalities. But submitting to routine breast X-rays is an appointment most women dread, with 60% of American women over the age of 40 admitting they do not follow recommendations to undergo the exam annually. Part of the problem can be traced to breast imaging protocols. To obtain an accurate picture of breast tissue, mammogram machines use a clamping compression mechanism, which can cause pain or discomfort.
Recognizing that traditional mammography apparatus, first developed by French engineers Jean Bens and Emile Gabbay in the 1960s, was up for a rethink, GE Healthcare asked a team of women in France to design a diagnostic machine that would prioritize patient comfort, as well as testing accuracy. Their ideas were encapsulated in GE’s Senographe Pristina, a smaller, less imposing model that gives women control over the amount of compression pressure exerted on their breasts during the exam. Designers paid close attention to improving the machine’s “Bucky,” the platform (invented by Gustav Peter Bucky) where breasts are placed. After learning that many patients found the standard metal plate “cold and painful,” the designers introduced rounded corners and chose a warmer surface material.
“My design philosophy is to mix science with empathy,” said Aurelie Boudier, principal designer at GE Healthcare, in a news release.
Anatomically correct test model
The first anatomically correct female crash test dummy was developed in 2022, but adoption remains a challenge.
Car safety ratings can contain a half truth. Vehicles touting five-star safety scores are tested on crash test dummies — but many of those dummies are modeled on the average male build. The world’s most commonly used dummy is the Hybrid III, sized to the height and weight of the “average man” at 5'9" tall and 171.3 pounds. The most widely used female crash test dummy, the Hybrid III 5th, is simply a scaled-down version of the male standard.
But the matter underscores a fundamental misunderstanding about female bodies: Women are not just smaller versions of men. And several studies attest that women have a different biomechanical response to collisions.
Swedish engineer Astrid Linder and her team developed a solution. Introduced in 2022 — about half a century after the automotive industry began using anatomical doubles in simulated vehicular collisions — SET 50F is the world’s first crash test dummy based on an average female’s body. Minding the gender differences in anthropometry, it accounts for the specific qualities of women’s torsos, joints and muscles.
The problem now, Linder said, is adoption. “She's not required, and therefore she doesn't exist as a commercial crash test dummy,” the engineer explained in a recent episode of the podcast, “Made For Us.” “The regulation tells you that you have to use the model of an average male, full stop. What needs to be done is after the full stop, it should say, ‘and average female.’”
