XX Equals | Female-centred innovation, design and product development

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Our purpose is to deliver products and experiences tuned to women’s needs, closing the gap between perception and reality when
designing for women.

Let’s start designing women in.

Two young brunette women discussing ideas at work

Our Team

“Without expert female representation throughout the innovation and design process, opportunities will be missed to leverage empathetic understanding and create compelling brands, products and experiences which include women at every stage and close the assumption gap”.

Merle Hall, XXE founder

Meet our team

Work

Our work includes products and services that apply exclusively or applies differently to women as well as products where women are the dominant purchaser or decision maker.

Innovation & Strategy

Product & Services Development

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Podcast

Insights, opinions and news from our experts and guests.

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All Insight Podcast

In Conversation with Jenny Button, Founder and CEO of Emm

February 10, 2023

In conversation with ILOH Founder and CEO, Jemma Sawyer

April 14, 2022

In conversation with Lilu Co-Founder and CEO, Adriana Vazquez

February 24, 2022

Follow us on Instagram

It's one week on from the The Women's ...

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May 4

Find our Head of Research & Strategy, Lucy ...

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Apr 17

Find our Head of Research & Strategy, Lucy Baldwin, at the Women’s Health Innovation Summit next week on 26th-27th April. Lucy will feature on a panel of experts who will be discussing the past 30 years of women in clinical trials, and where we are now.

Will you also be attending? Get in touch and meet us there.

From city infrastructure, to car safety and to ...

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Apr 6

Congratulations to all the groups who took part in...

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Mar 15

Congratulations to all the groups who took part in the Bright Ideas Initiative at @universityofbristol Digital Health and Care. We were impressed with how the students worked together as multidisciplinary teams to tackle such extensive briefs in 2 weeks.

Featured in this post is the winning group who addressed our second brief on elevating the experience of fertility drug delivery in assisted pregnancies. We thought this team produced a well-considered solution that inclusively empowered and supported users, whilst demonstrating future thinking.

Our final brief from our collaboration with ...

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Mar 8

Our final brief from our collaboration with @universityofbristol Digital Health and Care, looks at empowering individuals to feel safe and in control of their reproductive health.
Sources: The Guardian, Refinery29

Our second brief from our collaboration with ...

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Mar 8

Our second brief from our collaboration with @universityofbristol Digital Health and Care, looks at how cardiovascular care could be improved for those who are under-represented, including women and ethnic groups who are at an increased risk of getting cardiovascular disease.
Sources: British Heart Foundation, NHS

Our first brief from our collaboration with ...

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Mar 8

Our first brief from our collaboration with @universityofbristol looks at the experience of fertility drug delivery used during assisted pregnancies and how it could be elevated.
Sources: World Health Organisation, NHS

Our expertise team at XXEquals recently ...

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Mar 7

Our expertise team at XXEquals recently collaborated with the @universityofbristol Digital Health and Care, setting the briefs for their Bright Ideas initiative. This is a 2-week project that allows students to work in multidisciplinary teams and form digital solutions that directly impact the women’s health sector. We have been giving the students feedback during the project and we will reveal the winning team soon!

In our latest episode of XXEquals, we sit down ...

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Mar 3

"1 in 3 women have bladder leaks! Women are ...

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Feb 21

"1 in 3 women have bladder leaks! Women are taught how important their pelvic floor is and hear the horror stories of its deterioration due to childbirth or menopause and yet how many actually perform the exercises correctly or are put off from having to use an internal device to improve it? These shorts take that worry out of women’s hands whilst also being accessible for those that may not be able to insert a probe vaginally."

"Yona Care is a great example of female ...

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Jan 30

"Yona Care is a great example of female innovators coming together to redesign an outdated piece of equipment - the speculum. It’s used for pelvic examinations and is an uncomfortable experience prevalent in womxn’s lives. Not only is Yona a more inclusive design for both the patients and the providers, it also breaks the taboo around vaginal health & reminds us that not all those with a vagina identify as female.

It is one of the first products I remember that gave me an insight into the difference female-led and inclusive innovation can have."

Meet the first half of our XXEquals expertise ...

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Jan 26

Meet the first half of our XXEquals expertise team! Over the next few weeks, we'll be introducing the experts in our team and their favourite projects and trends in the women's health sector! Watch this space 👀

Brands doing it right 👉 this year @bootsuk in ...

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Oct 28

Brands doing it right 👉 this year @bootsuk in partnership with @genm_official launched the ‘Menopause Friendly’ symbol to help identify products and services that can help with some of the signs and symptoms of the menopause.

#Menopause #Perimenopause #WomensHealthAndWellness

Earlier this summer, our Head of Team Development,...

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Oct 19

Earlier this summer, our Head of Team Development, Tamsin Chambers, spoke with Fi Craig at @bristol_ci on "Why we need to talk about menopause at work".

During the talk, Tamsin and Fi highlighted why the #menopause is such a relevant topic for the workplace, why is it not spoken enough about currently, and what business leaders can do to address this and get the ball rolling.

Earlier this summer, our Head of Team Development,...

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Oct 18

Earlier this summer, our Head of Team Development, Tamsin Chambers, spoke with Fi Craig at @bristol_ci on "Why we need to talk about menopause at work".

During the talk, Tamsin and Fi highlighted why the #menopause is such a relevant topic for the workplace, why is it not spoken enough about currently, and what business leaders can do to address this and get the ball rolling.

This week, in honour of #MenopauseAwareness Month, we'll be posting some of the key takeaways from their discussion.

Menopause doesn’t just last a day or a month, it...

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Oct 13

Menopause doesn’t just last a day or a month, it can last up to 15 years.

As part of a collective of brands making the menopause better for all, we’re proud to support @GenM to #OwnYourMenopause today and in the future.

This is a powerful time of change and we’re encouraging you to welcome the menopause and own it!

We are dedicating our XXEquals channels this month...

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Oct 11

We are dedicating our XXEquals channels this month to Menopause Awareness Month! We'll be looking at the statistics surrounding peri-menopause and the menopause, what companies are currently doing to improve quality of life of menopausal women and non-binary gendered persons, and the latest innovative solutions and products. Watch this space!

Medical equipment is designed mostly for men by ...

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Sep 16

Medical equipment is designed mostly for men by men, yet women make up over 75% of the healthcare industry’s workforce. It’s time to build more equitable products, write Dan Formosa, PhD and Natalia Bednarek of the 4B Collective. Click the link in our bio to read the full article by @fastcompany on the current gender bias within healthcare and how the lack of diversity in design is dangerous for both professionals and patients.

#WorldPatientSafetyDay #WomenInDesign #WomenInHealthcare #WomensHealthAndWellness

"Here you have women who are essentially, ...

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Sep 14

"Here you have women who are essentially, once again, being used as Guinea pigs. Although they've been 'informed,' what's the actual choice when someone's telling you that your economic livelihood is going to be affected?"

Medical historian, @deirdrecooperowens and Howl at the Womb founder reveal the racist history of sterilization and hormonal contraception in the new documentary, "The Business of Birth Control."

Reposted from @businessofbirthcontrol

Earlier this summer, our team went to the Bristol premier of The Business of Birth Control, a film by @rickilake and @abbyepsteinxoxo. The documentary examines the complex relationship between hormonal birth control and women’s health and liberation. The film also exposes the racist legacy of hormonal contraception and its ongoing weaponization against communities of color.

Visit @businessofbirthcontrol to find out more!

One in ten women worldwide have endometriosis, yet...

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Sep 12

One in ten women worldwide have endometriosis, yet it is funded at 5% of the rate of diabetes; women are half as likely to be treated for a heart attack as men and twice as likely to die six months after discharge; over half of women who are eventually diagnosed with an autoimmune disease will be told they are hypochondriacs or have a mental illness. These are just a few of the shocking statistics explored in this book.

Fourteen years after being diagnosed with endometriosis, Gabrielle Jackson couldn't believe how little had changed in the treatment and knowledge of the disease. In 2015, her personal story kick-started a worldwide investigation into the disease by the Guardian; thousands of women got in touch to tell their own stories and many more read and shared the material. What began as one issue led Jackson to explore how women - historically and through to the present day - are under-served by the systems that should keep them happy, healthy and informed about their bodies.

Pain and Prejudice is a vital testament to how social taboos and medical ignorance keep women sick and in anguish. The stark reality is that women's pain is not taken as seriously as men's. Women are more likely to be disbelieved and denied treatment than men, even though women are far more likely to be suffering from chronic pain.

#painandprejudice #womenshealthmatters #womenshealthandwellness

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