Insights from the Center for Active Design Experts

This spring, as the weather gets warmer and many of us in the Global North begin to spend more time outside and in our community spaces, we wanted to take an opportunity to discuss the importance of equity in our building and neighborhood design. Different population groups face unique challenges as they move through the world, and at Fitwel we know that a better world for all means addressing these challenges. When we design an environment that supports accessibility and safety for all, we create rooms and spaces that enable diversity in social participation, a key factor in supporting both individual and population health. As May is National Women's Health Month, and includes Mother’s Day, we are putting a specific lens on the ways in which the built environment can support the health and well-being of women and mothers. Below we highlight key tactics that can help ensure women’s needs are being met across the built environment.

Prioritizing women, girls, and mothers in our public spaces. Community-scale interventions can have a meaningful impact on supporting the accessibility, safety, and overall well-being of these groups.

Supportive transit and street infrastructure. Evidence indicates that as men are more likely to own a car than women, women are more likely than men to walk or use public transportation. Yet despite this gender gap, most mothers and caregivers of small children can attest that navigating sidewalks, curbs, and public transportation can be anywhere from exhausting to impossible with a stroller. In New York, the largest city in the United States by population, only 23% of New York City subway and Staten Island Railway stations are fully accessible, posing challenges not only for those with disabilities but for anyone traveling with a stroller-bound child. Pedestrian-friendly crosswalks and curb cuts can also make a meaningful impact in promoting active travel for women. Fitwel’s Safe Street Infrastructure strategy highlights many of these support tactics.
Public, priority seating for pregnant persons. Providing available and priority seating for pregnant individuals in public transit stations, parks, and plazas can significantly benefit their mental and physical health. These accommodations can also promote community building, an expansion of social capital, and a perceived welcomingness of spaces, creating a broader positive impact beyond this vulnerable population. Fitwel works to address the value of this seating through its’ Main Building Entrance and Transit Stop Furnishings strategies.
Outdoor lighting and safety call buttons. Outdoor lighting in public spaces, sidewalks, and plazas, has a powerful impact on feelings of safety. One study found that in some communities citizens were willing to pay an additional $400 per year in taxes to improve outdoor lighting in public spaces. Research shows lighting is especially important for women and girls, as it can impact behavior and commuting patterns. Emergency call boxes, most commonly seen on college campuses, have also been proven to prevent crimes and reduce the fear of crimes. The importance of outdoor lighting is addressed in the Fitwel strategy library through our Outdoor Lighting strategy.

Building workplaces and residences to support women and working moms. Womanhood, and motherhood, from menstruation to lactation, bring additional factors for women as they navigate their offices. These simple interventions can help building owners and occupiers ensure they are providing female-friendly spaces for occupants, co-workers, and employees.

Lactation rooms for working mothers. The early months and years of motherhood bring with it new challenges, from lost sleep to painful hormonal recoveries. Providing women with private and comfortable lactation rooms can help make sure that breastfeeding is not another one of those challenges. Lactation rooms have a proven impact on supporting a mother’s breastfeeding journey, as well as a positive impact on maternal and child health. Moreover, lactation rooms have a positive impact on the bottom line, as The U.S. Breastfeeding Committee found that employers can experience cost savings of $3 for every $1 invested to support breastfeeding in the workplace, through healthcare and absenteeism costs. For all of these reasons, Fitwel’s Lactation Rooms and Stations strategy has one of the highest point values within the workplace scorecards.

"In this time of return to the workplace, it is crucial that mothers have quiet, secure places to express milk for their infants. Breastfeeding for the first year of a child's life improves a baby's health and can impact productivity of the entire family. Babies who are breastfed are less likely to get sick which keeps their families from getting sick and keeps parents from taking off work to care for sick family members. Employers who provide top-notch lactation rooms engender fierce loyalty from their employees because new mom's need all the support we can give them." - Liz York, Principal, Healthy Design Collaborative

Accessibility to quality menstrual products. Recent data out of the UK indicates that 85% of working women feel stress or anxiety managing their period at work. This stress, along with the physical menstruation symptoms, can contribute to real consequences at work, with data indicating it can impact both productivity and absenteeism. One simple strategy to address this stress and anxiety is the provision of free, quality, tampons and sanitary napkins in women’s restrooms. Unfortunately, many offices still make use of the twenty-five cent dispensers, which can be cost prohibitive for some populations as well as challenging for those who don’t often carry spare change. Additionally, while some spaces have replaced these dispensers with free products, they are often replaced with cardboard tampons, which women have reported quality and comfort issues with. Providing free, quality menstrual products in restrooms can not only support women’s health, but have a positive impact on employer returns.

"A built environment designed for women’s health is responsive to real needs, not outdated norms. Period products are a core part of healthy bathroom design and should be where women need them: inside every stall, not tucked away in common areas. It also recognizes the importance of quality period products, rather than the historically cheap or uncomfortable options offered in archaic machines. Wherever there is toilet paper, there must be period products." - Ellen Cynar, MS, MPH, Partnerships & Operations, UNICORN

Kitchen ventilation to support women and children’s health. Worldwide data has found that over the past few years the gender gap in cooking has widened, with women cooking twice as much as men in nearly every country. Given the data around the dangers of noxious chemicals released in cooking, particularly with the use of gas stoves, improving kitchen ventilation is undoubtedly a pressing women’s issue. Ventilation has been proven to have a significant effect on pollutant control, specifically PM2.5, even when used for only ten minutes. Municipalities can follow New York’s lead, banning the installation of gas stoves in new residential buildings, and residential building owners can take it a step further for the health of women and children, ensuring all residential kitchens have separate source ventilation, ideally through a range hood or exhaust.

At the neighborhood and building level, there are a variety of ways planners, developers and owners can prioritize women’s health in environmental design and operators. And more often than not, these interventions will have a positive impact on the rest of the occupants as well. In what is known as “the curb-cut effect”, oftentimes policies intended to support a vulnerable group or population subset, end up having a positive impact on everyone. Safer parks and plazas, with more seating, help combat social isolation for all, even if they’re designed with women, mothers, and girls in mind. Ensuring workplaces support women and mothers helps to build a more diverse workforce, which supports increased innovation, returns, and productivity. These tactics, many of which are supported by the Fitwel Standard, highlight how designing for women doesn’t just support equity, but can also be good for business.

Designing for Equity: How the Built Environment Can Support Women and Mothers

Insights from the Center for Active Design Experts

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Designing for Equity: How the Built Environment Can Support Women and Mothers

Insights from the Center for Active Design Experts

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