His and Hers by Suzanne Tick talks about gender equality globally but specifically in the fashion industry. We are now in a time where people identify with groups that they could never successfully do before while still being accepted by society. This new trend of new identities has challenged traditional companies. Tick says the reason for this is that a large percentage of companies are ran by men. Some of these men do not have the gender sensitivity or experience to accommodate the changing culture. Historically Men have dominated high ranking positions in offices and the offices have been built to support those high ranking men. Today the effects of the male centered office still linger. The technology is especially behind the times in terms of gender equality. Men account for 85% of the positions at the top companies are male.
Tick then goes on to talk about what is currently happening to change these inequalities in the world. The first example she gives is Emma Watson who tried to get men to join the fight for gender equality. Emma Watson is an actress and a UN woman ambassador that is promoting the he for she movement. Work place hierarchies have started to come down as well. Office are being built to emphasize nature in a way that they never have before and also are being built to be more sustainable. Tick says that designers need to work harder than ever to incorporate gender sensitivity into their projects.
Gender swapped roles and gender sensitivity is already being incorporated into the fashion industry. Change is more easily introduced into the fashion industry than the interior design industry because the fashion industry changes inventory a lot quicker. Tick talks about some of the things that fashion designers have bee doing recently. One designer made a coat that is designed to look more male orientated. It was designed to look militaristic with pockets on the front that you would expect to find on the uniform of world war 2 soldier’s jacket. There is also a make uop product that is supposed to appeal to men.
The next section of the article talks about the swapping of roles and introduction of new sexualities. Some students refuse to be classified as one gender or the other and they are sort of passively rebelling by not putting their gender on forms. The article furthermore talks about the challenging of gender roles. One of the top executives in the country is a trans-gendered woman that was born biologically male. Gender insensitivities in the workplace have been challenged by introducing gender neutral and unisex bathrooms. Google is one of the companies that has pioneered the attacking of workplace insensitivities.
Not everyone is going to be as accepting a s google though. The author gives an example of a person who underwent a sex change over a break at work and then received criticism when returning to work. Not directly but both male and female workers complained to the human resources department that they do not want to use the bathroom with this person.
Suzanne Tick talks about the changing of gender roles throughout the country in several industries but always tries to relate it back to the fashion industry. She gives a warning to the fashion industry that “as designers, we can’t fall behind in embracing [the desire to be gender neutral], too”