Educating otherwise: Design and Gender: An interdisciplinary approach

What does feminism and gender studies have to do with design? This is a question I have been hearing for 20 years, ever since I have started to try to introduce these topics in my classes.
In 2016, I founded the Chair “Design and Gender Studies” at the University of Buenos Aires to challenge and transform our design knowledge. Our approach enables us not only to deal with women and their work, but allows us to think about the conditions surrounding the development of projects and the way in which design of objects and spaces functions as a signifier in the society.
This workshop focuses specifically on how this perspective allows us to rethink the way in which we design and teach design. From an intersectional and interdisciplinary perspective, we will analyze design projects as a space for construction, reproduction and articulation of meanings and norms about sex and gender and a framework of intelligibility for symbolic processing of social transformations in matters of sexual and gender rights.

Griselda Flesler is a Professor in Design and Gender Studies at Faculty of Architecture, Design and Urbanism at the University of Buenos Aires. Born in Mar del Plata, Argentina in 1976. Graphic designer and Specialist in Communication Design Theory and Master in Communication Design (FADU-UBA). PhD candidate in Social Sciences-UBA. Professor in Design and Gender Studies and of the postgraduate courses "Design, Feminist Theory and Gender Studies" and "Gender Perspective at the University" (FADU-UBA ) Head of the Gender Office FADU-UBA. General Director of “Public Voices”, a project supported by Coincidencia-Pro Helvetia (Swiss Foundation for Culture). Co-director of design and gender project supported by Gendered Design in STEAM for LMICs from Carleton University-Canada. Member of the IPHI Award committee of the International Gender Design Network. Since 1998 she is a university teacher. She has been invited to teach classes at different Argentine and foreign universities. She published various works on design and gender.
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Griselda Flesler's lecture is part of our continuing education program EDUCATING OTHERWISE developed by Mayar El-Bakry, Maya Ober and Laura Pregger – funded by FHNW Aktionsplan Chancengleichheit 2017-2020.