Girl Stuff

"Small talk" is often minimazed as being not significant. Yet, according to research, this is how women bond with other women. By talking about men, make-up, fashion, culture and ....other girl stuff. Yes, there is this also slight connotation of negativity and lesser significance with the term "girl stuff". Still, it is important to cultivate this behavior and plant a seed of positivity and acceptance to this form of woman-to-woman bonding. I talked to Pamela, an educated anthropologist, who brought to my attention the power that small talk, gossip and work banter have in bringing women together. Go sisterhood!

Have you ever thought about design and gender? Did you know that car crash testing mostly happens on male dummies? Have you realized that a brick perfectly fits a male hand? Are you aware that the office space temperature is based on the male metabolizm? Certain jobs such as house cleaning and working in nail salons are not regulated by health standards yet they mostly employ women, what about those? And how should the space usage differ in terms of design of toilets for men and women in order to have specific gender needs met? I talked to Kate - a UX Designer based in Copenhagen, about the implications of designing for gender equality and the neglect of women's needs in the areas of design such as technology, public spaces, products and work environments. Based on “Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men”, a book by Caroline Criado-Perez.

Dance has a huge influence on our mental health. Battling body issues and proposing body acceptance could be done through dance. In cultures where dance is incorporated in everyday life, such as South America or Africa, people tend to be less constrained in terms of their body image and the body tends to be more accepted in its natural form. I talked to Kate, a Googler based in Dublin, where she started a class called "High Energy Dance". The class it is not only about learning dance moves but really letting your body move freely and accepting it the way it is. She has had a huge impact on the well-being and self-acceptance of her female colleagues. This got her a Women@Google Game Changer Award. Congrats and let's dance!