Women Who Design | Figma Blog
The article argues that the tech industry’s claim that qualified women are difficult to find is false. Women Who Design, a searchable directory created by Jules Forrest, demonstrates the breadth of talented female designers in tech and provides a resource for recruiting, networking, and mentorship. Its central message is simple: organizations can find women for leadership roles, teams, and conferences if they make the effort to look. ## The Lack of Visibility for Women in Tech - Women in technology often receive less attention than male peers despite having comparable expertise. - Earlier efforts, including a list of 1,000 women in tech and directories of female venture capital investors, challenged the idea that qualified women are scarce. - These initiatives do not solve systemic gender discrimination, but they make underrepresented talent easier to discover. ## Women Who Design - Product designer Jules Forrest created **Women Who Design**, a directory of female designers in the technology industry. - Users can filter the list by categories such as: - Founder - UX research - Other design specialties and leadership roles - The directory is intended for: - Recruiting designers - Finding professional role models - Discovering people to follow or work with - Forrest planned to expand the directory through a nomination form and allowed people to opt out if they did not want to be identified or searchable as women in design. ## The Community Response - Forrest was inspired by a tweet from Shopify design lead Helen Tran, who asked followers to name female design influencers. - The tweet generated: - 256 retweets - 704 likes - 368 replies - More than 450 suggested names - Responses came from prominent design leaders at organizations including BuzzFeed and Google Ventures. - The reaction showed that the design community already knew many talented women; the problem was that they were not always included in public conversations. ## Balancing Representation and Labels - Forrest recognized a tension between highlighting women by gender and avoiding the impression that gender defines their professional value. - She also emphasized that visibility matters, particularly for younger women who need to see peers and leaders they can identify with. - The directory reflects an attempt to improve representation while acknowledging the limitations of categorizing people primarily by gender. The article concludes that “there aren’t enough qualified women” is not a credible excuse for hiring decisions or conference lineups. Employers and event organizers should use resources like Women Who Design to broaden their searches and make overlooked talent visible.
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