Educating for Women's Empowerment

Educators in art and design have a level of visibility with their students that inherently comes with a high level of responsibility. Many of them rose to the occasion this year creating platforms and opportunities for students to come together to learn about amazing women, honor them, and participate in these events.Coordinated by Dan Napolitano from Alfred University's Art Force 5, the 2021 Women's Empowerment Draft featured above is a SUNY-wide (State University of New York) collaboration featuring 32 college students honoring historic and living legends. The collaboration features students from Rockland Community College paying tribute to Dr. Frances E. Pratt, a RCC alumna and an incredible living legend and education advocate from Nyack, NY who served as president of the Nyack branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for 40 years.An online art exhibit, "Spectrum," features work from Rockland Community College students and alumni on expanding definitions of womanhood.Educators and Practitioners, please let us know how you were involved in this year's celebration of women and please share the wonderful tributes you've seen.Additional Notes:You can view Dr. Frances E. Pratt's full tribute from Rockland Community College here: https://youtu.be/qKkZMf_Jr2s

Women in Graphic Design

There's much to celebrate for Women's History Month, and women in graphic design are definitely part of the conversation.Ethel Reed is considered the first American woman to achieve notoriety in graphic design. Self-taught, Reed received critical acclaim for her work at an early age when she was a highly prolific member of Boston's artistic community. Posters Reed created during a short, two-year window, earned her international recognition and were widely popular then, and still are now. They feature wonderful examples of Art Nouveau in the cultural context of early twentieth-century Boston. Unfortunately, Reed's commercial success was short, as she fell prey to issues of alcohol and drug abuse after her marriage crumbled and she spent her final years in poverty before her death in her mid-30sDesign Observer featured "Women in Design History" on their blog this month, celebrating women over the past century who are pioneers, having made significant contributions in the male-dominated field. Designers like Elaine Lustig Cohen, wife of the legendary Alvin Lustig, who took over his studio after his death, and Lucia Eames, the only child of Charles Eames, are featured. Lucia, an artist and designer, also became the preserver of the Eames legacy.This month's Design History Society article, "Where are the Women? Gender Disparities in Graphic Design History" discusses how understanding design history is a way to better understand wider gender disparities, including gender pay gap, small numbers of women in senior positions, and talking on stage at industry events. Author Ruth Sykes contends that graphic design history leaves the contribution of female graphic designers under-examined. She thinks that if this were revised, it would be a step in the process of achieving equal industry status for female graphic designers.The long-standing gender gap rises amid the data revealed in a publication by Lucienne Roberts and Rebecca Wright released last year, "Graphic Designers Surveyed." The authors found that while women designers are generally better educated than their male counterparts, they are still paid less.As we celebrate women  in history this month, consider how you can help change the legacy of women in graphic design.Sources:http://designobserver.com/feature/women-in-design-history/39516/http://www.designhistorysociety.org/blog/view/feature-where-are-the-women-gender-disparities-in-graphic-design-historyhttp://artanddesigninspiration.com/celebration-womens-history-month-ethel-reed-art-nouveau-graphic-designer/https://www.fastcodesign.com/3057540/infographic-of-the-day/who-are-graphic-designers-anywayshttp://www.wallpaper.com/design/lucienne-roberts-and-rebecca-wright-graphic-designers-surveyed-book#146709

Teach our Girls to Code!

Historically, women are woefully under-represented in computing and technology fields. Today, women earn just 18 percent of tech degrees and get 11 percent of tech executive positions. This trend extends into the field of graphic design, where women hold a small percentage of the jobs in the rapidly expanding disciplines of game design, UX, UI, and web design. Research has shown that the industry would likely benefit economically, as well as socially, from an increased female presence. Equal pay for women is still an issue in the U.S. with women typically earning 79% of what men are paid, and around the world earning even less. Tapping into the tech industry would be one area where women could grain ground for equal pay, and create parity within the industry sector.In recent years, there’s been a debate about whether or not graphic designers need to know code. Some argue that it’s not necessary; stating that they simply need to design and then hand their designs off to others for coding. Others contend that employers increasingly expect their designers to have experience with front-end development and coding.In AIGA’s 2016 article “What do graphic designers need to know?” they mention that technique is the most recognizable, yet rapidly changing part of what designers know. In addition to being able to manipulate type, forms, and images for both print and digital media using contemporary software, graphic designers need to know basic programming like HTML, CSS, and Javascript.A quick look at job listings might settle the argument. Take a look at job listings on AIGA’s site or Behance and you’ll find a high number of them do require some coding skills. If you need any more convincing, take at a recent NY Times article about workers turning to coding for a career change; it’s a sellers market; companies cannot hire fast enough with the average base salary for software engineers starting at $100,000.Let’s stop arguing, and in honor of Women’s History Month, instead, let’s start encouraging the women graphic designers we know to learn code.Sources:http://girlswhocode.com/http://www.aiga.org/guide-designersneedknow/http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2015/01/women-and-workhttp://artbistro.monster.com/careers/articles/8794-10-fastest-growing-design-jobshttp://azraelgroup.com/should-designers-code/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/29/technology/code-academy-as-career-game-changer.html?smid=nytcore-ipad-share&smprod=nytcore-ipadhttp://time.com/3836977/un-women-wages-and-careers/http://www.aauw.org/research/the-simple-truth-about-the-gender-pay-gap/

Women! Learn to ask for more

The gender gap in compensation and the lack of women in leadership are issues that all women face. AIGA’s Women’s Leadership Initiative celebrates and fosters women’s achievements in design. As part of their commitment to empowering women designers they have sponsored a series of webcasts on the topic of negotiation.Graphic designers are visual communicators and problem-solvers. Negotiation is a communication discipline—it’s not a battle—just a conversation. Negotiation has roots in improvisation and all improvisation adds information. It’s about bringing information to the conversation in order to problem-solve your way to agreement. Yet despite this fundamental relationship between problem-solving and negotiation, women in design often struggle with negotiation. Many have the opposite experience—they cringe at the prospect. Fears of being thought of as being too bossy, too emotional, or not being taken seriously, hold many women back. As shown above, women are four times less likely to negotiate then men. 20% of women refuse to negotiate at all and women ask for 3-32% less when they do negotiate.In the first webcast, AIGA Women’s Leadership Initiative, that aired last November, Lisa Gates, co-founder of She Negotiates, talks about how women need to understand their natural way of operating, and change the conversation to match their style, not feel the need to match someone else’s style. Women need to add communication and negotiation skills to their toolbox, use them in their own way, and practice every day. Gates talks about assessing your market value and takes us through the steps to find out how. The webcast has been archived and is available for viewing through AIGA’s site.The second webcast which aired in January, Blueprint for Everyday Workplace Negotiation, is also available for viewing.The third, Set and Get Your True Market Value, takes place on March 19, 2015. As you celebrate this month’s Women’s History Month, tune in to learn more—it will be well worth your time.Sources:http://www.aiga.org/webcast-advancing-leadership-negotiation/http://www.aiga.org/womens-leadership/http://www.shenegotiates.com/

Celebrating “The Boss”

This Google doodle for International Women’s Day shows how women around the globe are being celebrated all month long for Women’s History Month. There are also a number of efforts underway to not only celebrate women, but to empower them.In the U.S. the design community is on par statistically with other industry sectors in terms of women in leadership positions. Unfortunately, these numbers are not very high with only 18% of design leadership positions held by women. In her article for Communication Arts, “Designing Women: Mothers of the Earth unite,” DK Holland writes about why women are not well represented in leadership roles in the creative profession. Holland asserts that women are shaped by cultural norms that make them strive for harmony and sublimate their own needs for the greater good. Cheryl Heller, AIGA medalist and founder of the School of Visual Art’s Design for Social Innovation MFA program, says, “Women are good at relationships and seeing the world from perspectives other than their own. These are critical skills, and now we have to figure out how to maintain them while introducing the kind of disruption that leads to a healthier reality.”Equality for women also manifests itself in how women are featured in design history books. The blog Women of Graphic Design is dedicated to exhibiting design work by women in graphic design. It was started by Tori Hinn at the Rhode Island School of Design when it was discovered that despite the fact that 71% of the Graphic Design department were women, only 6% of the designers students were learning about were women. The blog showcases some of the best work in graphic design in the world that has been created by women.See Jane is an organization founded by actress Geena Davis with a mission to change how women are portrayed in the media. Their research shows that in family programming there is only one female character for every three male characters; in group scenes only 17% of characters are female. The Institute is working hard to create gender balance, reduce stereotypes, and create female characters starting with entertainment that targets children 11 and under. Their goal is to become a blueprint for a gender-balanced media landscape. The effort is succinctly summed up with their tagline, “If she can see it, she can be it.”The Representation Project is another effort that uses film and media to expose the injustices created by gender stereotypes. The film Miss Representation pulls back the curtain on how mainstream media contributes to the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence.The Ban Bossy campaign founded by Lean In and The Girls Scouts is aimed at changing the perception of women as being bossy. The campaign aims to change the negative connotation of bossy, to one of empowerment, where women are admired and revered for their leadership skills. Beyonce delivers the message perfectly in the newly released PSA for the campaign, where she proudly declares she’s not bossy, she IS “The Boss.”Girl Rising is a global campaign for girls’ education and also the title of the documentary film produced by the organization. Around the world millions of girls are met with barriers to education that boys do not face. The Girl Rising campaign asserts that educated girls are able to stand up for their rights, and subsequently grow up and educate their children, families, and communities. Educated girls will not only transform their own lives, but societies as well.In addition to changing perceptions of women in leadership roles and how they are portrayed in the media, we need to change how they are valued economically. The AAUW report, “The Simple Truth about the Gender Pay Gap (2014),” states that in the United States women were paid 77 percent of what men were paid. The gap exists in nearly every occupation, grows with age, and is worse for women of color. The gap persists outside of the U.S. and is worse in some countries. The Times of India reported in 2013 that the pay gap for women ranges from 25% to 44%.What have you see this month that celebrates women? Share it with your both your sons and daughters. Celebrate women—and empower them.Sources:http://www.aauw.org/research/the-simple-truth-about-the-gender-pay-gap/http://www.commarts.com/columns/designing-women-part-one.htmlhttp://www.commarts.com/columns/designing-women-part-two.htmlhttp://film.missrepresentation.org/synopsishttp://girlrising.com/http://www.missrepresentation.org/about-us/resources/leadership/http://seejane.org/http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/mar/08/international-womens-day-google-doodle-yousafzaihttp://therepresentationproject.org/about/mission/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Single-or-married-women-get-paid-less-than-men-IIM-survey/articleshow/22240925.cmshttp://womenofgraphicdesign.org/abouthttp://womenshistorymonth.gov/