Femtech is a new and rapidly growing industry that focuses on producing technologies that address female health. Think about your period trackers on your phone, pregnancy apps, and various emerging technologies that have revolutionized the detection of breast cancers.

Companies have experienced exponential growth both in investment, size of the company, and search volume. You may know some Femtech companies such as Womeness, Kindbody, and Natural Cycles, who create technology around reproductive health, menopause, and fertility.

Despite 50% of the world benefiting from these technologies it was only in 2016 that the term was coined by Ida Tin, the founder of Clue- The period tracking app. Tech by default caters to men and women are seen as other, which is why iPhones don’t fit in women’s hands, women are more likely to die of heart attacks and car crashes.

Even tech products such as breast pumps of which women are the sole users aren’t designed with women in mind making them uncomfortable and clunky to use. It’s absolutely astonishing when you think about it.

Femtech projects are also harder to get funded, with a lot of male investors not seeing the benefit of products simply because they don’t fit into their lives.

Part of the problem with any new emerging industry is that there isn’t enough awareness and exposure. It’s necessary to demystify these concepts because they are important for improving the lives of millions of women.

What is Femtech?

Femtech is the all-encompassing term for emerging technologies and solutions which improves healthcare and female-specific conditions. This includes maternal health, menstrual health, pelvic and sexual health, fertility, menopause, and contraception, as well as a number of general health conditions that affect women disproportionately or differently (such as osteoporosis or cardiovascular disease).

Why is the Femtech Sector Important to Closing the Gender Data Gap?

The gender data gap is a lack of knowledge or research on how gender affects the world we live in. In other words companies, governments, scientists and academics are not collecting data on women leading to massive gaps in knowledge.

This affects our lives in many ways, from the products we use to the risks we encounter when going about our daily lives. The Femtech industry is tackling problems with women’s health specifically and therefore can have a massive impact on the way we collect data that is gender specific.

By extension, it is tackling systematic issues which create barriers to early and accurate diagnosis in women. If you have read Caroline Criado Perez’s book ‘Invisible women. Exposing data Bias in a World Designed for Men’ you’ll know that women suffer from health problems due to a lack of data.

Women are more from to suffer from misdiagnosis, long-term health problems, cardiovascular disease going untreated, and the wrong dosage of drugs all because there is a lack of data when it comes to studying women’s health conditions.

Women’s bodies are seen as complicated hormonal anomalies. We discounted and excluded from data because it is assumed that women’s bodies are just scaled-down versions of men’s bodies.

How can this happen you may ask? Mainly because doctors, scientists, and the powers that be don’t see it as important to collect sex-segregated data when testing drugs and doing research on patients. Sometimes it is actively excluded despite the fact it could contain rich insights into diseases and the female body. There have been a number of reviews conducted that exposed the routine failure to either collect data based on sex and gender or fail to explain the decision to exclude this data.

Femtech is actively listening to women. Listening to the symptoms, listening to their worries, and their needs. It is creating products and technologies that aren’t based on the average 5ft10 white male. 

What can Femtech do for Mental Health?

With women taking up to three times more domestic work and unpaid care duties than their male counterparts, in addition to their full-time jobs, it’s no wonder they are the main suffers of mental health issues.

Mental health is a multifaceted issue and cannot just be blamed on the division of domestic duties alone. For example, there is evidence to suggest that women’s health problems are more likely to be misdiagnosed as mental health problems such as depression and anxiety. Women are also more likely to be diagnosed with psychosomatic conditions than men.

Femtech’s solution to bettering the mental health of women is by developing apps that give women easier access to internet-based therapies. There are a lot of apps like this on the market today, all catering to different demographics. Internet-based therapies allow women to address their mental health problems in the comfort of their own homes.

When domestic duties and unpaid care work gets in the way of attaining or attending therapies, mental health apps that specifically cater to women allow them to do internet-based therapy from the comfort of their home.

How is Femtech evolving the NHS?

Although Femtech is in its earliest stages of development, there is still a lot of potential. The NHS is adopting digital health apps and innovations to help improve women’s health care.

Squeezy is an app adopted by the NHS to help with pelvic floor exercises and routines. Pelvic floor muscle training exercises can help strengthen the muscles under the uterus, bladder, and large intestine. Although pelvic floor exercises can help both men and women with problems with urine leakage, the main suffers are pregnant women or women who have given birth. Squeezy helps with routines and exercise which lessens the symptoms.

Peppy is also an app that has been embraced by the NHS to help with women’s mental health. Companies can obtain it for their employee which is then free for them to use to help with the pressures of mental health, sexual harassment, and trauma.

The Future of Femtech.

In conclusion, Femtech has the potential to be life for changing for women because it means that our concerns and health problems are being listened to. It changes the way in which data collect and account for changes in sex and gender. We are seen as hormonal anomalies but as worthy customers and patients who would benefit greatly from these advancements.

We have our own Women in Tech society here at the University of Westminster which encourages women to build networks within tech sectors.

Is Femtech by any means the solution to everything moving forward? Of course not. However, in a world in which reproductive rights are still not a concrete given, it gives back a certain amount of autonomy.

What is your favourite Femtech app or innovation? Is there anything you would like to recommend to others?

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Power of a girl means the idea that women and girls should be. confident, make decisions, and achieve things independently from men.

Women and Girl power starts from admitting the fact that we are truly women first. We begin from there; we make the decision, trust others, influence others and lead from there. Upon doing that, we inspire other women to embrace, encourage and celebrate women’s empowerment, independence, confidence, and strength. This is how you will develop and own your power and take fully control of your life.

Let’s begin with the Aspirational role model who empowered women all these years

This is just a small example. More example Click Here!

‘We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller, we say to girls, “You can have ambition, but not too much. You should aim to be successful, but not too successful, otherwise, you would threaten the man.” …But what if we question the premise itself? Why should a woman’s success be a threat to a man?

‘I want to be respected in all my femaleness because I deserve to be.”

– Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, TED Talk x Euston; We should all be feminists, 2013

 This speech has all my attention, and I can't ever feel more agreed.

When I heard the author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie speaking on TEDxEuston, I was touched. I was impressed because I am a woman, I am a girl, and I am an individual who is told to do well with housework, keeping silent, making yourself small, and being smart but need to act naive about all these sorts of things that lead to one goal which to find a good husband. Her message implies that women nowadays have every right to own their life and develop power. Women can be successful and ambitious like every man does, and women can have different roles and abilities that make them more powerful and influential. She reminded us that women with confidence and courage would inspire other women and strengthen their dreams. Not to mention her definition of feminism is so respectful for both genders.

Quotes on Women Power and Empowering other women

Another speech that shows how women can empower one another is Megan Markle’s speech in front of hundreds of girls in South Africa. Her emotional and aspirational speech reflected with me (specifically, with the young girls who were listening in person.) I can tell that from that moment, she inspired them to think higher, to be better, to never give up, to hope more and to accomplish more. The message that Megan has passed to the girls will give them value in life today and in the future. I still remember the day that one word from my very close friend let my inner out and changed my life forever. 

So, let’s honor women’s empowerment! Let’s acknowledge the bravery and assurance that women exhibit when they accept their own power.

Regardless of being criticized or judged and even with societal pressure or gender inequality, women confidently embrace their power by making professional and personal decisions and refusing to allow society to guilt them into apologies for making those decisions.

Why is empowering girls and women so important?

The wellbeing, social and economic prosperity of families, communities, and nations depend on the empowerment of women.
Women can reach their full potential when they are living safe, secure, fulfilled, and productive lives resulting in the advancement of the workforce contributed by women's skills and a happy family environment that benefits children to be healthier. Empowering women also benefits society and helps fuel the economy and humanity on a large scale. 
An essential part of this empowerment is education. Educated girls are less likely to get married at a young age due to eight-year education and contribute to a meaningful life patch pursue goals and careers which help develop the country's economic advantages.

Endorse the Women’s empowerment principles 

Establish the correlation between the UN Global Compact and UN Women. The Women’s empowerment guidelines are utilized to empower women and enable women to have greater equality in the work industry, marketplace, and community. Therefore, The seven principles are adapted from the Calvert Women’s Principles®. In additional, This practice is gathered from real-world business practices and suggestions to ensure gender equality of women in businesses, and other stakeholders will benefit from it. 

The seven principles are: 

• Principle 1: Establish high-level corporate leadership for gender equality
• Principle 2: Treat all women and men fairly at work – respect and support human rights and nondiscrimination
• Principle 3: Ensure the health, safety, and well-being of all women and men workers
• Principle 4: Promote education, training, and professional development for women
• Principle 5: Implement enterprise development, supply chain, and marketing practices that empower women
• Principle 6: Promote equality through community initiatives and advocacy
• Principle 7: Measure and publicly report on progress to achieve gender equality

The gap between sex-disaggregated should be close for the better. UN reported that The increase in women’s labor force participation rate due to the increase in women’s access to education has show delays in marriage and childbearing and makes women less vulnerable to violence. 

With these principles, society and the workplace are safer and healthier for both men and women and display equality in human rights which will contribute to equal access to power, resources, and opportunity as well as women and men will be treat with dignity, fairness, and respect. 

Here Is 15 tips to make you feel more powerful in an instant

Women own their power by doing whatever they want to, and by doing that they are showing their confidence and be able to  

Standing and Supporting girls and women and empowering them can be done in various ways. With a little hand from everyone, better and more hope for every girl is possible, especially those girls in an undeveloped country. 

1. Help Girls stand up for themselves: In an unhealthy family, girls experience domestic violence and sexual assault. To teach them and train them to strive for a healthy family relationship that penetrates every area of life. 
2. Contribute to girls’ education. Girls who have access to proper education typically live longer, make more money, and provide their offspring with better health care and educational opportunities. However, some girls got denied their right to study. By providing a girl with sponsorship, you can empower her to pursue an education and reclaim the rights she is deserved. This is a crucial technique to empower girls. So, they can develop into leaders of their generation and the ones after that. Here is where to sponsor girls. Help Educate girl.
3. One of the ways that you can help empower girls around the world is to advocate for the Keeping Girls in School Act. You only utilize your voice, your signature, and your network of influential would make changes. The house of Representatives received the Keeping girls in School Act in an effort to promote empowerment, economic, security, and educational opportunities for teenage girls around the world. This law allows the U.S. government to continue encouraging and promoting Girls’ education over the world and to develop progressive tools and strategies to hasten the impact
4. Empower girls through Sanitation and hygiene kits: According to a UNESCO report estimates, one in ten girls in Sub-Saharan Africa skip school while they are menstruating. Three out of ten girls miss school for the same reason in Afghanistan and Nepal. You can also help fill this gap by supplying menstrual hygiene kit. 
5. Empower girls through their dreams. It can be overwhelmingly difficult to think of getting out of a poverty situation. However, hope, dreams, and faith will open our eyes to the possibility of it. Many girls have an ambitious goal, including becoming doctors, teachers, or policewomen so they can improve their families and their life quality.

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‘The Male Gaze Theory’ – Laura Mulvey

‘Olympia’, Manet – A discussion of visual culture

#MoreWomen – Discrimination of women at the top

Pride and Prejudice – Stereotypes used in fashion marketing practices

The End – How we can put a stop to the over-sexualisation of women in the media

‘The Male Gaze Theory’ – Laura Mulvey

Laura Mulvey published the ground-breaking ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ in 1989, in which we are faced with the first instance of the ‘Male Gaze’ Theory, a concept many were not ready for at the time of its release. The theory, in its essence, states that women are depicted from a heterosexual male point of view. They are portrayed as sexual objects for the pleasure of male viewers. In media (e.g. film, literature, art. etc) women are subjected to seeing other women depicted as nothing more than an object to be admired; dehumanising and objectifying them based on their beauty and sex appeal [1]. The ‘Male Gaze’ theory can be found throughout countless fashion campaigns, including, but not limited to:

• Tom Ford
• Boohoo
• Fashionova
• American Apparel
• Dolce & Gabbana

Nude women often placed with fully clothed men show the use of the male gaze to create a pleasurable viewing experience for male consumers, whilst expecting female consumers to desire the effect produced by the scantily clad woman. For example, the image below from a Tom Ford campaign shows clear intent to place the focus on the female in a sexual manner, despite the campaign being aimed at men’s glasses, making the requirement for nudity or sexuality void and irrelevant to the image.

The Male Gaze Theory is seen far more often than we would initially expect in all types of media, specifically film, music, and fashion communications.

‘Olympia’, Manet – A discussion of visual culture

To see the Male Gaze in action outside of the fashion context, the classic painting, ‘Olympia’ is an exceptional example. ‘Olympia’ – created in 1863 by Édouard Manet – was a rebellious piece of artwork during its time. It was negatively received by its audience due to it lacking the elevation of classical art [3], taken as a mockery of traditional nude art. One of the main points in ‘Olympia’, is that the woman in the image is not depicted as doing anything. Whilst many nude paintings of the time had women bathing or dressing, etc. Manet left ‘Olympia’ doing nothing. Simply staring into the viewers’ eyes; not suggestively, simply looking. This was strikingly contrasting to the demure nude women in paintings during the 1800s, shying away from their painter, and their eventual audience. Manet often experimented with the subject of his paintings looking directly at the viewer, however, ‘Olympia’ was different, as it acted as a confrontation to the audience. Male viewers were often used to viewing women in art as objects of attraction. However, ‘Olympia’ is nothing to be attracted to. Instead, she confronts the male viewer and turns him into the one being viewed as an object of attraction.

#MoreWomen – Discrimination of women at the top

With cultural references dating back to the 1800s and further, the question remains, ‘is there space in our evolving global culture for sexualised marketing techniques?’.

Women are facing gross inequity in the workplace, specifically in politics and senior positions. There is not only a lack of women in these positions but they are scrutinised to a much higher degree than their male counterparts. The video below produced by Elle puts this into perspective.

To further put into perspective the unequal environment, only ’24.3% of all national parliamentarians were women’ in June 2019 [4] and just 21% of C-Suite positions were held by women according to the McKinsey ‘Women in the Workplace‘ Report for 2020 [5].

So, what does this have to do with sexualised marketing? It may not inherently cause these issues, but it does play into them. With business fashion being hyper-sexualised in the women’s department, it perpetuates the idea that women are less capable, and an object of desire, as Laura Mulvey discussed in the Male Gaze Theory.

Pride and Prejudice – Stereotypes used in fashion marketing practices

Aside from business fashion, many other niches in fashion marketing use this technique, from everyday wear, resort and loungewear, down to children’s wear, with girl’s clothing often being shorter, tighter and more expensive than boy’s clothing. This extends the stereotype past adults, starting the prejudice and ‘Pink Tax’ from a very young age.

Alongside this, nudity of women in marketing is used commonly to attract both male and female consumers. About a decade ago, this manifested heavily in online and offline storefronts, billboards, and magazines. However, with social media taking over marketing, it has been moved into this space. The use of nudity and near-nudity on social media is past just company posts but has moved into the influencer space. Influencers portray the consumer within marketing, in which brands will request certain styles of posts in exchange for items or pay. There are many brands that request sexually charges or scantily clad posts to portray the business in that light. However, this can sometimes backfire, with children as young as 13 allowed on most platforms, not to mention those lying about their age. Whilst censoring is not the answer, a consideration of what is being posted, and whether it is truly relevant to the product should come into play.

On the other side, we can see a double standard for women in higher-up positions, for example, female politicians are often scrutinised for what they wear, with the public, press and even certain brands, publishing extremely opinionated and often sexist remarks regarding their appearance, with a lack of regard for anything they are speaking on or producing. This can be seen specifically in the Daily Mail, The Sun and many more press publications, as well as within the comment section of these posts from the public.

The End – How we can put a stop to the over-sexualisation of women in the media

So, how can we change the situation, and remove sexist messaging from the fashion media industry? Removing nudity, near nudity and introducing censoring will not work, and will most likely make the situation worse. The key is in how women are portrayed in fashion media and how relevant nudity or sexualisation is to the brand message.

For example, Dove is a positive example of using near nudity in their campaigns to normalise different body shapes, types, and sizes. It is relevant being that they are a skincare and shower product company, and, most importantly, the women in the campaigns were not being sexualised, but were more so existing happily in their own skin.

This is a vastly different experience, for example, to American Apparel, which created campaigns of girls in an extremely sexual manner, with insinuations taking over any other messaging. Whilst they were wearing more clothing than in the Dove campaign, it was still far more inappropriate and didn’t relate to the brand itself. This is a prime example of over-sexualisation hindering women and their rights to be taken seriously in all aspects of life, specifically in the professional world.

Following the footsteps of those brands portraying women in a positive light, through liberation and acceptance, fashion, press and more could further the feminist movement, rather than hindering it through sexist visuals and remarks. Consumers can encourage this behaviour by engaging with brands that show a positive side to marketing and media involving women, whilst avoiding those that do not.

To answer the question, Are Fashion Marketing Practices Hindering the Feminist Movement? Yes. But it does not have to be that way. Learning from past mistakes, actively avoiding the Male Gaze, specifically in women’s media, and unlearning misogynistic actions towards women in the workplace are the pillars for changing the answer to ‘No’. As these mindsets change and become more female-forward, we can expect fashion brands and media to follow suit.

Links

[1] http://https://www.amherst.edu/system/files/media/1021/Laura%2520Mulvey,%2520Visual%2520Pleasure.pdf

[2] https://www.mindlessmag.com/post/is-there-a-place-for-sexualised-fashion-advertising-in-2020

[3] https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/becoming-modern/avant-garde-france/realism/a/manet-olympia

[4] https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/leadership-and-political-partici­pation/facts-and-figures

[5] https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/women-in-the-workplace#

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