One of the world's oldest and most prevalent forms of discrimination is gender inequality. Globally, in several societies, women's voices are being invalidated and their works are devalued, leaving the status of women unequal to men.

 

Sub-Saharan African is one of the most unequal areas in the world, and progress on gender issues is much slower than in other regions. In Nigeria, the persistence of cultural norms that exacerbate favouritism against men is responsible for much of the gender inequality in the region (Abdi, 2019). This can be seen in the labour force, such as the design industry, where hegemonic masculinity is dominant, and largely women have remained at the lower end.

 

Beyond Design is a media project that explores ways women in design tackle naturalised gender inequalities, in other to professionally work and thrive in this male-dominated field. This was inspired by the personal and observed experiences of two Nigerian women designers. With a focus on understudied sub-sectors, such as architecture & digital design, Beyond Design adopts a podcast documentary format to recount the complex realities that although representation may be increasing, there is still no equal level playing field for women, and many are left to develop personal playbooks to subvert deeply entrenched power relations.