DESIGN FOR GENDER EQUALITY
In this project we worked with Karmøy municipality on how to promote gender equality and culture with and for teenage girls, with the use of strategic design methods in urban- and societal planning. The course was led by Einar Sneve Martinussen, Joakim Formo and Glenn Sæstad. The starting-point for the project was Karmøy’s ongoing process of addressing gender equality issues in the municipality. National statistics show that Karmøy is far below national average values for important gender equality parameters such as participation in politics, women with higher education, salaries and leaders in business. Together with the municipality we explored how Karmøy could address these issues through re-imagining social infrastructures, exploring new planning- and participation-processes and rethinking the use and design of public buildings and services. This project was a part of a larger research- and innovation project called ‘Design for gender equality’ developed by Karmøy municipality and AHO, and funded by the Norwegian Research Council through Rogaland’s regional research funds (RFF). The project first started in the Autumn of 2021 with a possibility study. In the Spring of 2022 the findings from the possibility study was used to create a small scale pilot project in Karmøy, called Drivhuset. Drivhuset is a co-creation pilot project for cultivating a culture of gender equality and societal engagement – with and for young women on Karmøy. The pilot is led by design researcher Aleksandra Z. Fischer from AHO. Drivhuset employed four youth designers who were given the task to develop and test ideas for new kinds of cultural activities. In our project we went to Karmøy to work with the youth designers at Drivhuset to further develop their work. Our findings have been brought together in what we call "A strategic playbook for culture and gender equality”. The playbook builds on the previous work in the project, while at the same time bringing a fresh view and new perspectives to the table.
