OUGD505 - Studio Brief 01 - Gender Imbalance

After choosing my concept I did some research into countries that do not see women as equally as they would men. 

Qatar has a gender ratio of 311 men to women (1.3 million men, 427,000 women). Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain have similarly unbalanced ratios favoring more men. In developing countries like the United Arab Emirates the society turns to males for administration, policing, and paramilitary forces. Therefore women are already looked down on as they turn to males when something goes wrong or is need of someone. 

Hannah Raven writes a report regarding gender equality within the Middle East. 

She has to say this "A sea of suits and ties has greeted me at all of the conferences, exhibitions, debates and interviews I have so far attended. I would estimate no more than 5% of industry professionals I have come in to contact with have been women."

This shows how little women are actually taken serious in the Middle East but especially looking at the United Arab Emirates which I will be directing my banknote towards.

"There are countless online forums, books and associations directed at helping women “survive” in male-dominated industries, with construction the most common sector mentioned. It is understandable yet alarming that this support network is necessary."

Hannah Raven writes a report where clearly she and others are worried about how women are perceived in developing countries and how supporting the network is so necessary to fight against this. Therefore this research shows that supporting the fight for gender equality is important. Creating something like a banknote for the United Arab Emirates is fighting against women imbalance and shows support towards campaigns that are actually trying to make a difference.

I then came across this article which states that Muslim nations have serious gender imbalances in their population. Therefore I decided to visit the Islamic world in the British Museum to find some patterns that could be used in the final design of my banknote to try promote Islam and go against articles like these which direct it towards religion rather than gender equality. Although there is a big imbalance in the United Arab Emirates with 189 males per 100 females the article tries to turn it around by saying majority of these countries are Muslim. I can now focus my research on the British Museum, Islamic world and gender equality creating a banknote that helps promote women in developing countries.