The National Taipei University of Technology and the National Taiwan Science Education Center are collaborating to provide a stage for She Maker, and invited Taipei Municipal Zhongshan Girls High School to work on the project as well. They held a She Maker press conference on March 8th at the National Taiwan Science Education Center, showcasing a series of self-made items based on the perspectives of female Makers.

She Maker

This series includes the first wearable Iron Woman suit, which symbolizes gender diversity among heroes and also encourages women to sign up for Maker courses; the self-made car designed by female students of the Department of Vehicle Engineering, National Taipei University of Technology; the women’s fashion and accessory show and virtual reality made with 3D printing; the fun and interactive application that helps women with their careers made in collaboration with the Gender Equality Committee; and the “Social Design- Give the Safety Dummy a Makeover,” the intricate transformation of the intimidating construction safety dummies into the face of a beautiful city, which is to observe the environmental issues caused by constructions in the city. During the press conference, Technical Development Manager Ching Chen from Microsoft and Assistant Professor Saiau-Yue Tsau of the Department of Interaction Design, National Taipei University of Technology, who is also the curator of “Social Design- Give the Safety Dummy a Makeover,” were both invited to give speeches on the topic of “Gender Consciousness in the Maker Era” from the perspectives of both technology personnel and visual designers, to share with the audience why women should get tech jobs, and how they could build brighter futures for themselves to help change the society for the better. 3D accessory design teacher Miss Pin-Hua Wang and the runway students

Associate Professor Hsiu-Ying Hwang of Taipei Tech and her self-made car.

The participation of female Makers can bring more friendliness and care to the world of technology. The exhibits and winners of elementary and junior high school science fairs nationwide show little difference in the boy to girl ratio, hence it’s safe to say that women perform no worse than men in science. However, the difference in ratio grows by a wide margin as the students reach adulthood and devote to fields of science and technology, and when women have higher self-efficacy and expectations toward science, they are more likely to choose science as their careers. How do we get women interested in technology, how do we help women understand technology, and help them become competent and have more opportunities in the world of technology, are some of the important issues today. From the perspective of female Makers, She Maker uses their creative thinking to show the world the tenacity and courage of Taiwanese women. This not only emphasises the importance of female cognition in technology, but also brings a fundamental change to the superior-subordinate communication, switching it from downward to upward, to inspire more creativity.

The “Social Design-Give the Safety Dummy a Makeover” exhibition is inviting students to observe their surroundings and create their own safety dummies. As for the “Make a Wish” event, which is of the series “Maker X Edu Week, Create Your Own Generation” held by the Ministry of Education, they would be inviting elementary and junior high students to submit their dream proposals online. As long as they have the ability to plan, and the courage and willingness to act, they have the chance to become little dream workers and carry out their dreams with other Makers.

Social Design-Give the Safety Dummy a Makeover