Summary

In the article “If the Chair Fits: Sexism in American Office Furniture Design”, author Jennifer Kaufmann-Buhler describes how American office furniture in the 1960’s-1990’s was based on gendered ideas about labor. She claims that through an analysis of chairs and desks, she discovered that executive (mostly male) and secretarial (mostly female) furniture was designed differently, and in ways that enforced gender norms. Through the measurement of chairs and through the analysis of their forms, she was able to recognize these differences between executive and secretarial furniture; executive chairs have wide and deep square/rectangular seats, whereas secretarial chairs have small, rounded seats with a back that hovers just above the seat. These designs both establish a hierarchy within the workplace, and also the secretarial chairs were designed in a way that treated women as subjects of the ‘male gaze’. Jennifer also explored how desks are built differently for executives versus secretaries; secretarial desks are lower than executive desks, and also have a built-in surface for typewriters. Having these differences within furniture reinforced gender norms and also didn’t accommodate those who were female executive/male secretaries. 

Building Interpretation

I decided to choose Meraki Coffee Co, because it uses a variety of furniture to accommodate a wide variety of people, and there doesn’t appear to be a gender difference between the furniture options. In the picture below, you can see how there are at least 5 different types of seating; 3 different kinds of chairs, a couch, and a wooden booth with pillows. The chairs are relatively low to the ground, which helps accommodate women who are often shorter than men and have shorter legs. Also, even though there is a variety of chairs and seating, there doesn’t appear to be a hierarchy, and people are welcome to choose the seating that they are most comfortable with. Additionally, these chairs lack arm rests, which helps accommodate people that are larger or wider. It is now common to see such a variety of seating within coffee shops and public spaces, which stands in contrast to the furniture from the 1960’s-1990’s, which was much more gendered and enforced gender norms. This variety of seating options nowadays helps break gender norms and the traditional gendered ideas of furniture. This variety also helps accommodate many different types of bodies, male and female, small and large, which helps people feel included in the space and like they belong there.

Interior photo of Meraki Coffee Co.