WoW Woman in Tech | Merle Hall, CEO of Kinneir Dufort
Kinneir Dufort’s CEO, Merle Hall, is on a mission to design a better world – one which is fully inclusive of all genders, and where women have greater input into the design of the products they use.
Since her appointment to CEO in 2016, Merle has made many positive steps towards achieving her vision at Kinneir Dufort (KD). KD counts global blue-chip brands including Roche, Reckitt, Unilever, Astra Zeneca, Smith & Nephew and Mars among its clients.
Under her leadership, the product development consultancy’s senior management team has reached a 50/50 gender split. Also, on her watch, KD has increased the number of female team members to 43% across the 60-strong workforce.
In an industry where only 5% of the workforce is female this is a significant achievement, but for Merle, this is not good enough, and she continues to focus on how to achieve an improved gender balance, as well as broader diversity at KD.
Ultimately, Merle is driven by a purpose bigger than the industry; she sees gender equality and balance as “a sustainability and a humanitarian issue first and foremost”.
Merle, how many of KD’s workforce are women?
The senior management team and board both has a 50/50 gender split, and 43% of our broader team is female. However, we need to continue improving the latter figure and we are always looking at routes to achieve this; we are dedicated to creating greater equality, as well as diversity as a whole, that is more reflective of the society in which we live.
Which everyday products are designed for men but used by everyone?
In her book ‘Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men’ Caroline Criado Perez offers examples of products that are not fit for purpose from a woman’s perspective. She explains that women are 47% more likely to be seriously injured in a car crash, and no EU car safety tests require the use of a female crash dummy.
When Apple launched their health tracker in 2017, they stated it was ‘a comprehensive health tracker’, including everything from blood pressure to blood alcohol level, but as pointed out by women at the time, no period tracker.
From smart watches that are too big for women’s wrists, to map apps that do not consider safest routes, only fastest routes. VR headsets that are too big for a woman’s head to mic packs that need substantial pockets or a waistband, defaulting to male seems standard in most consumer electronics design.
What can the design industry do to achieve a gender balance and equality?
Firstly, I appreciate that it is not possible for all other design businesses – especially smaller ones – to increase the number of women in their teams in the same way we have in the near future. The shift will not happen overnight, but we do need to address the barriers in education and industry to tackle the issue as quickly as we can.
There are multiple cultural and systemic barriers which need to be dismantled for change to happen.
The biggest opportunities to deliver change are in awareness; pro-activity; flexibility in working practices; focusing on women’s potential as well as achievement; and development and support through mentoring and sponsorship. Career pathways need to consider career breaks such as maternity leave, longer term childcare and other caring responsibilities.
Finally, healthier, more balanced approaches to the working day will make the industry more attractive and accessible to all.
What are your thoughts on gender balance quotas?
If quotas mean more business achieve a 50/50 gender balance, then I support them. However, with so many small businesses in the design industry that fall outside of government legislation, this action is voluntary. But if we can work towards it, we know others can, and we want to help support the sector to achieve gender balance.
How does KD approach developing products for the full gender spectrum?
Our quest for diversity is backed up by recent research, which shows that many young people think that gender binary is obsolete. At the moment we are focused on gender balance between men and women in the company, however, we are very aware that attitudes are changing quickly. Therefore, we need increased diversity in design businesses to help us create products for consumers who may identify as gender fluid. As a leading innovation agency, we are taking active steps towards more inclusion, holistically across gender and broader diversity.
How is KD doing during this pandemic?
Our senior management team recognised early on that the pandemic had the potential to have an impact on the business and so they acted quickly to protect the business and the jobs of our team. Our clients have sustained us, and 2021 has felt a little more like ‘business as usual’ as we are all more accustomed to new ways of working.
XXEquals is KD’s new female-led initiative focusing on designing products for women – adding further momentum to the pursuit for inclusion in product design. How has the pandemic influenced the timing of launching XXEquals?
There definitely feels more of an opportunity to have conversations in today’s climate than ever before, although questioning the existing lack of equality and diversity will be a difficult conversation for many, it is long overdue in this sector.
More women have been adversely impacted by Covid than men. How do you think the industry’s ability to recruit and promote more women will be affected?
Job losses across the design sector as a whole as a result of Covid are a concern, and consequently the lack of diversity could be exacerbated by fewer people entering the sector.
Read more about XXEquals on our blog!
Twitter: twitter.com/xxequals
Instagram: www.instagram.com/xxequals
This interview was conducted by Marija Butkovic, Digital Marketing and PR strategist, founder and CEO of Women of Wearables. She regularly writes and speaks on topics of wearable tech, fashion tech, IoT, entrepreneurship and diversity. Follow Marija on Twitter @MarijaButkovic and read her stories for Forbes here.