Why- WHY- aren't women involved in the design of the items they use???

[rosepoet]

I'm barely 5ft 3"...so why do fridgefreezers have the fridge at the top? So that the top shelves are hard to reach? Why do induction cookers have 'touch controls' - guaranteed to turn off/malfunction, when you...you know, COOK with them and the pan boils over, or you have wet fingers? Why are kitchen cabinets designed for giants? Why do they sell soup stored on the top shelves in super markets- turning into soup bombs! Why? Because they haven't bothered to consult women, that's why! If you know of any brands of fridge freezers with the fridge on the bottom, please let me know...!

I’m not sure this is a woman thing so much as a short person thing.

I also don't think it's a woman problem. I'm 5'8" and all of those things are fine.

I think you need an under counter fridge and to go back to an old fashioned gas or electric stove

There is a book out about this and loads of threads as well

Cars- women are shockingly xxx times more likely to die low speed accidents because the safety stuff has always had average man in mind.

Threads have usual people saying oh it's trivial / dont buy a car if you don't like it / so what etc but still there are good points.

My bugbear is on some trains i can't reach to hold on when standing which is unpleasant and dangerous. Of course schoolkids are affected by this too!

Will try to find book

Here

www.theguardian.com/books/2019/feb/28/invisible-women-by-caroline-criado-perez-review
Have a feeling you might enjoy it!

Bras. I’m sure men designed them.

Not comfortable. 😡

Fucksake of course it's a woman thing, unless average male vs. average female heights have suddenly swapped over.

www.penguin.co.uk/books/111/1113605/invisible-women/9781784741723.html

This is the book.

I think this is the book:

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1784706280/?psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it&coliid=I1UY3Z6MBDWPDO&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&colid=X7T0SU34RCUN

Invisible Women

Yes some of it sounds more like a short person thing not specific to women. And some applies to everything - the touch button is annoying on all my appliances.

Is it a particularly tall and deep fridge/freezer you are using? At your height you should be able to reach everywhere. We have a Bosch thingy side by side and I can guarantee you cannot hide ice cream or anything in either freezer or fridge sides for anyone over the age of 5 - full access all around.
Kitchen cupboards are annoying - I tend to only use top shelves of things I don’t use that often but wanted extra high wall cupboards for more storage. Wearing heels helps and asking taller people is also very useful.
We can’t tell how many women are product designers but it comes down to cost of producing a product after some market research and to suit an average worldwide.
I’m sometimes wonder about women’s sportswear - is it really female body friendly? Don’t get me started on bras. And there are plenty of women in clothes design and manufacturing.

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/feb/23/truth-world-built-for-men-car-crashes

to suit an average worldwide

an average male

I think that you are confusing issues for women with issues for short people.

I'm 5'11" and find that work tops are too low. I hate trying to fetch stuff off really low shelves and for some cash points I have to kneel down or get backache trying to use them.

Most of your examples are height issues rather than women's issues OP but more generally you do have a point if you look more widely.

Toilet cubicles without enough room for sanitary bins,

car seats that expect you to be able to hold two buttons down and push the handle down at the same time (DP can do it with his big man hands, I have to use my nose to push)

Phones that are too big for women's hands to hold in their palm and type

Baby changing units that are at eye level (ok so that's a height one too)

PS You can get a under oven drawer which holds a collapsible step for reaching higher kitchen shelves - really useful sadly but not very cheap

Average height IS a women's issue. There are far more 5ft2 women struggling with this stuff than 5ft2 men.

I'd like to know why the sockets on TVs for the DVD or PS4 are always around the back, where no-one (or certainly no female with average length arms) can reach to plug in the appliances. Why aren't the sockets on the side, so that stuff can be plugged in without having to stand upside down on the telly shelf to reach behind???

I’m 5’11, and a woman, and I don’t have a problem with any of these things. I do sometimes have a problem with banging my head on beams in old buildings which were apparently designed for hobbits.

Induction hobs are crap, irrespective of the gender of the person using them.

All these are fine for me and sometimes people ask me to reach stuff for them in the supermarket but in general design is quite a male field - the creative producing part anyway

Toilet cubicles without enough room for sanitary bins

The toilets at work have the sanitary bins just under the sensor to flush the toilet. Impossible to use the bin without flushing the toilet multiple times. Drives me crackers!

I find touch screens only work if I wet my fingers - which too often means licking them, so, pity the poor person who uses the cash machine or photocopier after me - is this a woman thing though?

Oth only one pram I’ve bought has handles that extend high enough

I feel your pain rosepoet.

At 5ft 1" and 3/4 (the 3/4 is very important to me), I find top of kitchen cabinets a nightmare. So much so, I have a little stool to stand on.

Is this a problem for women or height, not sure. I'm interested in others views.

This is why it's a women problem: evolutionistx.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/picture-91.png

OP is about 160 cm tall. Just under average for a woman, considerably under average for a man. Therefore far more women will encounter everyday difficulties of the sort she mentions than men do.

This is a height thing not a gender thing. I’m 5 11 and all of these are alright for me. I loath low shelves and try and put very little in my low cupboards. I hate low ATM’s and most sinks are too low to comfortably wash dishes in.

public toilets and sanitary bins.
why are the cubicles so small that they often don't fit?

You 5 ft 11 women must surely be aware that you're outliers on the height distribution curve and that your experience is not gender-typical?