Reviewing design methods to make them more sensitive to gender

3. Approach

To understand what work has already been done in this area, books and online articles that discussed gender inclusive design methods were consulted. Each resource consulted was examined for any barriers to involving women and girls in design work, alongside any suggestions on how to overcome those barriers. To keep the investigation within scope, researchers reflected on each barrier, its impact on user-centred design ways of working, and potential opportunities to embed best practice. A full list of the resources consulted has been provided at the end.

To keep the desk research aligned to the overall goal of making design methods more sensitive to gender, an advisory group comprising members from the third sector, the educational sector, the health sector, and Scottish Government's relevant policy areas was set up. Some members of the advisory group are also part of the NACWG, and that helped keep the desk research's goals aligned to the overall objectives of the NACWG. This group acted as 'critical friends' and provided overall guidance and direction to this programme of work.

It is noteworthy, that this report does not cover the full breadth of the observations, advice, and recommendations given by the advisory group. In addition to helping critique the desk research, the advisory group also provided helpful advice on gender mainstreaming, intersectionality, and overall equality and inclusion. Therefore, this work inspired other areas of work, such as revision of the guidance being written in the playbook to make it more sensitive to gender. Feedback and concerns raised by the advisory group allowed us to consider how to feed these into policy-making more generally.