The Women’s Making: A Historical Review

This article proposes an analysis of the relationship between women's creative practices in the context of Western world design history. The study, based on a review of the literature, highlights the evolution of the role of women in design, considering the relationship with technology. The result is an excursus of the women maker culture growing through design from the 18th century up to the current times. During this path, despite the social constraints deeply affecting their life and work, women acquired skill and ability for the gradual achievement of a new individualism, and modernity of behavior for women. The changing role of women making culture was more incisive in the first development of consumption in the 19th century to the consumer society and the breakdown of gender barriers as very recent history. Due to history, which has profoundly shaped the behavior of women, to date, they tend to have an artistic approach to technology. Current times are characterized by a series of positive processes and actions that reveal social radical change and the emerging of the gender-sensitive design approach to pursue.