TED Talks Daily - Why the world is still not built for women | Virginia Santy

Episode Date: March 27, 2026

Design consultant Virginia Santy set out to create an office space built specifically for women, flipping the script on the subtle (and not-so-subtle) ways that workplaces and cities still fail them. The results were striking: greater productivity, deeper collaboration and an environment where women felt genuinely valued, leading her to ask a simple question: What would the world look like if we designed with women in mind?Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at attend.ted.com/podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hugh. Design researcher, Virginia Santee, has a simple but surprisingly profound question. Do you feel comfortable and safe in your chair, in your car, and generally in your surroundings? These questions might seem a little silly, but silly for different reasons depending on your gender identity. That's Virginia. Speaking from the TEDx stage, in 2022.

We don't really ask these questions of men because for the most part, we don't have to. Our environments are built for men and how they experience the world. The truth is, the world wasn't built for women. In fact, in nearly every way, it's been quite literally built for men. From Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian man, the famous ink drawing by the scientist himself detailing the human proportions of a male figure to the resting temperature of often two cold office spaces, we've used measurements of men's bodies to design the world. In her talk, she explores how the basic structures all around us work against diverse bodies in subtle and not

so subtle ways, and how designing an office for women sparked an even greater conversation. What if we build entire cities and economies for women? That's coming up right after a quick break. And now our TED Talk of the Day. Do you feel comfortable? Really think about your experience right now. Are you too hot or too cold? How does your butt feel sitting in this chair? Do you feel safe?

These questions might seem a little silly, but silly for different reasons depending on your gender identity. We don't really ask these questions of men because for the most part, we don't have to. Our environments are built for men and how they experience the world. For you women. These questions are different because we are so conditioned to accept our own discomfort. To accept the environments or systems around us as normal and natural,

we often fail to realize when they don't quite fit us. We just work around it. How many of you, women, are. carrying a purse or a bag big enough to fit an extra sweater or a down comforter in case you get cold sometime today. The truth is, the world wasn't built for women. In fact, in nearly every way, it's been quite literally built for men. From Da Vinci's Vitruvian man to a concept called the modular man from the mid-20th century, we've used men's bodies to measure what we feel as normal and appropriate in our world. And then we've used those measurements to build everything

around us, from chairs to buildings and cars. Women are, for the most part, not seen, not measured, not valued. And this means the basic physical structures of our environment or the structures of our systems work against women in subtle and not so subtle ways. And this is exponentially true for women of color, women with disabilities, and women with intersectional identities. It was only 20 years ago. We included female crash test demonstrators.

It was only 1991 when we included women in medical trials. It is like we have only recently realized women aren't men. A few years ago, I started daydreaming about what it would look like to build an office space, a workplace for women. I was tired of freezing in sterile fuel. in sterile feeling offices. I felt defeated by the woeful tales of moms who had to breast pump in bathroom stalls or copy rooms.

I was sick and tired of feeling guilt or embarrassment for having to bring my baby to work with me a few hours every once in a while to compensate for some caregiving emergency or another. So I started talking to women and asking them what worked, what didn't work in their spaces, and then I used that information to sketch out the perfect plan for a new workspace. Women told me, office parking spaces are too narrow and a car seat with a kid in it is pretty bulky and inflexible. So we designed our space with ample parking and spots wide enough,

to open a car door all the way and take out a car seat. Women told us, simply entering a building can be frustrating. Have you ever walked up to a door and had to try a few times to get it open? You really had to throw your weight behind it? That's because doors open more easily for men. Literally, it is not just a metaphor anymore.

So we reduced the force required to open our doors, making it easier for women to use them. Moms told us juggling work in children their most difficult challenge. So instead of pretending workers are 100% autonomous agents with no human connection and children simply drop from the sky and raise themselves, we plan for on-site childcare rooms

where moms could use our partner child care services or bring their kids to play while they worked. This all wasn't just physical. From research, we learned women are most likely to attend a professional development event with a friend. So we made all learning social. These were all great things and the results were glorious. Women supported one another and collaborated across businesses and industries. They shared resources and recommendations.

anecdotes and pep talks, we have built a place where women could unabashedly discuss that other scarlet letter, capital A word for which they are so often judged and criticized ambition, and find not only encouragement from others, but strategies. We built a place where women felt valued and could therefore be themselves. And while I believe valuing women is the only argument we need for building places that work for them,

there is also an economic argument. Today, there are more men than women in the workforce. In fact, women's workforce participation is at the same level today as it was 30 years ago. And the gap is only getting wider. building places of work where women feel comfortable and valued is one way to address this. If women worked at the same levels of men, the U.S. GDP would increase by 5%, or $1 trillion. Globally, we know, when women are more financially secure, they invest more and more often in their families and communities. Everything I've mentioned so far are things you can do at home in your workplaces, but we need to think bigger, too.

And design for women on a larger scale. Can we design whole cities to serve women? That's the question that inspired my work for the downtown Denver partnership. The first thing I learned is that women aren't really. on the radar of city builders, 94% of U.S. cities have city plans, yet only 2% of those plans include any mention of women. And if women aren't on the radar, it means their distinct experiences aren't on the radar either. Carework is a useful illustration. Women spend 37% more time per day on household chores or caregiving activities than men.

And this doesn't end with children. The average caregiver for an older adult is a 49-year-old woman who works full-time outside the home and spends an extra 20 hours a week caring for a family member. If this is the reality for women, how can we redesign our cities to better serve them? most city centers are child care deserts despite a growing number of young families who live in work downtown and women who live in metropolitan areas tend to use public transit to accomplish

a range of household or caregiving responsibilities yet a city's public transportation system isn't really what we think of when we hear the phrase family friendly public transit It's tough to navigate with a stroller. It doesn't facilitate the short, frequent trips women tend to take in care work. If we really thought about women's experiences, simply recognizing the centrality of care work in women's lives, would mean a much different city than what we're used to.

Imagine this scenario. A mom walks a short distance from her home to her transit. She and her two-year-old child socialized with other parents and kids at the stop, because there are other parents and kids at the stop. She takes the transit to work where she goes to the on-site corporate-sponsored daycare facility. She gets a chance to kind of network with the VP at her office because he and his kids also use the daycare facility. Later in the afternoon, she returns to the daycare facility. Center for an afternoon snack with her kid, feeling energized by that visit. She returns to her desk,

finishes up her day, picks up her kid, heads back to the transit stop. She doesn't have to worry about transportation schedules because the transit stop is a hub of services. She swings by the walk-in healthcare clinic to get her flu shot. She drops by the bank, which is open, past 5 p.m., by the way, and sets up a financial account that does not penalize her with higher interest rates simply for being a woman. She boards her trans at home along with other families, feeling like she has had quality time with her kid, as well as a productive and strategic day. I daydream about this scenario in the same way I used to daydream.

about riding a flying pony when I was eight years old. And in some ways, it feels just as mythical and surreal, but it doesn't have to. To me, the workplace cities are inventive opportunities to question what we see as normal and natural in our world. Why do we make it so difficult on working mothers when their contributions quite literally fuel the future success of our economies. How can we do things differently?

And how can we continue to iterate as gender identities and gender norms evolve? Finally, what would it take to make these changes? The answer is so simple. It sometimes feels silly to say it aloud. Value women. See, women is not only human and therefore worthy of our consideration, but as people who make incredible contributions to our collective success, recognize women's experiences are different than men's,

but that those differences are not deficiencies. This could be a sad story. But in many ways, it's one of triumph. Women succeed in personal, political, cultural, economic arenas, all in spite of systems, places not designed to serve them. Imagine what women could do if we made things a little easier on them. We can build places, cities, systems that are not derivatives of or adjustments to what works for men, but the product of inspired thought and creativity.

We can design for women, measure their lived experiences, and build with those experiences in mind. And the world will be better for it. Thank you. That was Virginia Santi at TEDx Mile High in Denver, Colorado in 2022. If you're curious about Ted's curation, find out more at TED.com slash curation guidelines. And that's it for today. TED Talks Daily is part of the TED Audio Collective. This talk was back-checked by the TED Research Team and produced and edited by our team,

Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Brian Green, Lucy Little, and Tonicaa Sung Marnivong. This episode was mixed by Christopher Faisie Bogan. Additional support from Emma Tobner and Daniela Balezzo. I'm Elise Hugh. I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feed. Thanks for listening.