Inspirational story about gender-inclusive making

Katrin considers herself a maker, as she has already realized many different projects, including the crafting of her own furniture.

“One might think that simply buying stuff is easier, but it is so much fun to create your own stuff specifically addressing your needs. And you do not have to study everything; you also learn how to do this by simply doing it.”

Currently, Katrin is working on the “TMBR Scooter”, a wooden e-scooter, with a focus on sustainability and local sources. Having received positive feedback at a manufacturing start-up hub, she joined a local network to continue her work in the Happylab, the local makerspace she is a member of. She also started doing a course on bicycle mechatronic to better understand and design the TMBR Scooter.

“Of course, making is an iterative process, and not everything planned fits at the first attempt”, she says. 

According to Katrin, making is often dominated by cis hetero men and sometimes it is hard to be “the only woman – or person read as a woman – in a space or workshop, especially, when the environment makes you feel different or special.” Physical barriers, such as inaccessible toilet facilities, or machines only adapted to the height and weight of tall persons, exclusive visual materials, and non-inclusive language are still persistent in some workshop spaces.

As a woman, “I am probed about my technological background and skills, while men next to me are not, with the persistent assumption: every man is able to repair a car or a bicycle.”

While visibility of female and non-cis male makers is important, it also needs more women being employed at maker spaces to support other makers with their projects. Also, the support mechanism of funding schemes often end at age 30, and thereby exclude women who start a family, as care-work is unequally shared, and others, who simply cannot afford to start their own business this early.