Hello again! If you’re here, it means you’re ready to dig deeper, to understand more about the everyday imbalances that millions face, and to start seeing the world from a different perspective. If you’ve skipped straight to Part 2, we recommend starting with Part 1, which you can find here: Welcome to a World Not Built Even – Part 1.

So, let’s dive back in and look at a few more ways the world wasn’t built with everyone in mind

invisible Workplace Realities

Please think of the place where so many of us spend most of our waking hours: the workplace. Unfortunately, for women, it’s not always designed to fit their needs. Despite making up nearly half the workforce, women often navigate spaces created with male bodies, male schedules, and male safety concerns in mind.

Representation and Advancement

Let’s start with opportunity. Globally, only about 27% of senior management positions are held by women, with even fewer reaching executive levels. Despite the same education, experience, and drive, barriers persist—biases and systems designed long before women entered the workforce in large numbers. Without equal representation, policies and office cultures often overlook women’s needs, from maternity leave to mentorship opportunities.

Safety in the Workplace and Beyond

For many women, safety is an ever-present consideration. Roughly 65% report feeling unsafe on public transport at night, impacting their job choices, working hours, and commute routes. Some cities, like London, have responded with better lighting and increased patrols. But in many places, simple options like flexible hours for safer commutes aren’t the norm. Just think: a basic safety concern could limit a career path.

The Hidden Costs of Ergonomics

Office equipment, desks, chairs, even room temperatures—these are often set up for an “average” male frame. Women experience 70% more discomfort from office furniture than men, dealing with everything from joint pain to chronic back issues. Research by the University of Southern California even found that women perform up to 20% worse in cognitive tasks in cooler office environments, where temperatures are set for male comfort.

The next time you’re setting up a workspace or planning a commute, #AskTheQuestion: Is this space or policy built for everyone’s needs?

Technology That Fails Women

Even in tech—a field built on innovation—gender bias sneaks in. Think about something as personal and as essential as your smartphone. Phones are getting larger, but that’s not helpful for everyone. A 2019 study revealed that women are 50% more likely to drop their phones than men because, simply, the size isn’t suited to smaller hands.

Voice and AI Bias

Voice assistants like Siri and Alexa were initially developed using male voices as the standard, meaning early versions struggled to recognize female voices. It took years for these systems to adapt, and even now, they can miss out on tonal differences, accents, and nuances that are crucial for an inclusive tech experience.

Face Recognition Issues

Face recognition technology, used in everything from security to social media, carries a bias. In 2018, MIT researchers found that these systems had an error rate of 34.7% for darker-skinned women but only 0.8% for lighter-skinned men. This means women and people of color often face disadvantages when using a technology that is becoming more embedded in our lives each day.

Technology that doesn’t consider everyone isn’t neutral. It excludes. So next time you use a device or app, remember to #AskTheQuestion: Who was this really built for?

Where Do We Go From Here: #AskTheQuestion

Ask the Women Around You

Talk to your mother, your sister, or your partner, and ask them about the challenges they face that you might not notice. Do they struggle to drive comfortably? Do they find their workspace accommodating? Have they experienced health misdiagnoses? Listen to their experiences, because their world isn’t the same as yours, and understanding that difference is the first step toward equity.

Ask the Establishment

When you next visit the doctor with your mother, ask whether her medication has been tested on women. When you’re shopping for a car, ask if its safety tests include female crash dummies. When you’re using the latest tech gadget, ask whether it was designed to accommodate all users. Each question is a small step, but it adds up. When we all start to #AskTheQuestion, industries begin to listen and adapt.

Getting Closer to Equity

We believe in gender equity—not just as a buzzword, but as an everyday mission. It’s in the objects we use, the offices we work in, the cars we drive, and the medications we take. It’s about making sure the world is built for everyone.

This isn’t a big leap; it’s a series of small steps. Each question, each conversation, and each choice brings us closer to a world that values everyone’s needs.

All you have to do is #AskTheQuestion

#LetsGetCloser, because a world built for everyone starts with each of us.