”Women’s Issues”
The issues and consequences for women caused by the Reference Man.
Project details
- Year
- 2024
- Programme
- Bachelor – Illustration
- Practices
- Commercial Practices
- Minor
- Contexts & Situatedness
“Women’s Issues”
In our society, we face problems and consequences stemming from the Reference Man: a Western European or North American white man between 20 and 30 years old, weighing 70 kg, standing 170 cm tall, and living in a climate with an average temperature of 10 to 20 degrees. Our society is built around this man, evident in healthcare, technology, urban planning, work, and products. Using this man as the norm has both innocent and potentially life-threatening consequences, especially for women.
For this project I made several paintings which depict various examples of the impact of the Reference Man on women. Examples include the lack of safety in the streets and traffic (soccer cage, car accident); the unfair distribution of public facilities (office, public transport, public toilets); as well as the dangers and issues related to products and clothing (medicines, cleaning agents, tools, uniforms).
Women’s issues are often perceived as not significant enough to be taken seriously. This perception arises from our familiarity with the norm of the Reference Man. It is time to take “women’s issues” seriously!
Whenever you put on one of the glasses you will observe the reality of the Reference Man or the reality of women. How many “women’s issues” do you recognize?
Margot Beekelaar
