Seatbelts aren't supposed to touch your neck and other stories

[KenAdams]

I've just found out seatbelts aren't supposed to touch your neck. I'm quite short and they always have. Apparently they were designed with a taller man in mind. Even though mine moves down slightly its still not low enough.

It got me wondering what else is designed for men that I've never noticed. Maybe number of toilets (I always feel that there should be more womens toilets in a venue than mens).

I work for the London Tube and even though we have a "female" fitting uniform (still doesn't fit me that well) the hivis and shoes are unisex. Gives me the rage! The hivis has to go round my hips which are bigger in circumference to my chest (as most British women are) so I have to order an XL and the result is I look HUGE. Like a bruised mango.

And the shoes need to be safe for the track. Whilst they suit me and my dinner plate feet most of my female colleagues hate them because they just don't fit. Just try and find tracksafe shoes for women on the open market too: virtually non-existent. We go on the track with extreme caution anyway but the cherry on top is not fucking falling over because the shoes don't fit.

On the engineering side new orange hivis jackets and trousers were introduced for women but female contractors say they are still not fit for purpose. Also the hard hats are UNISEX but read MEN'S SIZES even if you can adjust them because our heads are different too.

The Tube employs a frontline workforce that's about 35% female. You would think they'd get their shit together by now?

And another thing: When I change the TfL posters at some of the stations I work at they are often very high up (especially in the big Grade 2 listed ones in West London). I have to get a kick stool to open the frames to take the old posters out to replace them. My balance ain't great and I risk falling off each time. I've tried asking for a mini tower stool or some kind of climbing frame but the email bounces around with nothing done. I'm going to the union now.

Ugh, every time we go to a crowded place like a service station with a long line for the women’s toilet and none for the men’s, it makes me so mad. I have started just going into the men’s in instances where there is one toilet each, and if someone gives me the side-eye, I’ll say something about how there is everyday sexism in toilet design.

The other side of this coin is that many things associated with women’s work don’t come in bigger sizes, especially anything to do with cleaning or cooking. I’m 6’0 tall and tried a lot of buggies before I found one with a handle that telescoped enough to be comfortable. I had special ‘tall’ worktops put into my kitchen as I hate having to hunch over to cook. Ski boots are another one, ‘women’s’ ski boots even in the larger sizes are not built for someone who is actually tall.

I had never thought about the seatbelt issue as I’m tall and small boobed, that must be incredibly irritating!

My kitchen work top!! Find myself standing on my tiptoes a lot, especially to do things like mash potatoes, mixing etc - the bowl
is too high up!

I also bang my elbows on it a lot!

I’m only 5ft but its so infuriating. If I can afford to re do the kitchen one day, it will be top priority but not sure how much I can change with standard sized cupboards etc

Haven't rtwt, but every time the salt symbol lights up on the dishwasher, my heart sinks. Only a man would design them with a massive, stiff lid in the base of the thing; to twist off in order to refill with salt. Totally impossible - even DH struggles.

Work clothing for industry rarely fits women. Daughter in engineering has had some horribly fitting clothing over the years.

Was the PA strikeout necessary?

Shit, I'm fat and short. Go me!

Kitchen cabinets have adjustable legs, so you can set them at a range of different heights.

In fact if you really wanted, you could adjust your existing kitchen. You'd have a gap at the back where the wall finishing ends that you'd have to make good, but it isn't that major a task.

We have the opposite problem, the previous owners of our house were short, and the cooker hood is at a height that means dh and the dc (all over 6 foot) bang their heads on every time they cook. Drives them potty.

Why don't they make hi viz for pregnant women? They are so cheap, it wouldn't cost much

In my job they are toying with elasticated waists. They could invent an insert for pregnancy. But then COST is cited as a reason for excluding women.

Yes, I thought that too. (From another short, fat person.😄)

I don't know why but I've found the solution to Alexa refusing to stop when I say stop is to say "Alexa shut up" instead and so far 100% success rate 😂 not sure why that works but it does!

I came on here to recommend Invisible Women but since that has already been done I'll recommend the author's substack instead!

https://newsletter.carolinecriadoperez.com/

Everything that isn't specifically labelled as designed/assessed for women is designed for men. I'm long and lanky but have a women's body proportion and build - seat belts don't fit me either.

Its also important to remember that the "default man" used in everything from product and service design to diagnostic criteria is not only male - its white caucasian male.

I remember a design failure of an automatic hands-free tap that didn't work with Black skin! The designer was rightfully embarrassed when called out on it.

Yes, so much designed for men and most it for right handed people.
Double short straw if you are a left handed woman.

I have small hands, only marigolds come in small at about twice the price of supermarket brand gloves. My 8-yr-old DD is happy to help with dishes, and has been for years, but has only recently been able to as she has sensitive skin and rubber gloves were too big.

Very few public venues have toilets and sinks at an appropriate height for children. At just under 5 feet tall I struggle to reach some sinks and generally get drips up my arms and blown about hair if I use a hand dryer. A girl did a study on hand dryer volume for a school science project and discovered they are louder for children due to the height and at a volume that can damage hearing!

When I was pregnant I had to spend over £100 having pedal extenders fitted to my car so I could continue driving, essential for my job, after about 6 months. Car head rests tend to push my head forwards into my chest, some cars I can only drive if I take them out and put them in backwards.

I started to tell my husband about this book. He hadn't read it yet felt the need to overtalk me to mansplain what it was about (wrongly, as it happened; he was convinced it was about women in non-Western countries) 🙄

He still hasn't read it. 🤦🏻‍♀️

You can get money for publicity campaigns, and investors on Kickstarter. It's not just for selling individual things. Also, it's merely an example of a platform. The key is getting your name out there and finding out who would be interested. Why would anybody take on a toilet design idea by some 'random' if it didn't align with their objectives?

Theme parks and councils don't give a shit about equality or accessibility. They're not losing business due to long queues in toilets. Equally, they're not going to change what's already been built. Or known for being open to forward thinking design. Somewhere like my alma mater, with a new social science wing in the works would definitely be open to it!

Architectural firms, or other bodies that know what is being built and who is open to the idea would have made a better target. And as a PP said, these places might not even be in the UK!

Maybe target female friendly organisations?