Modern offices like to present themselves as neutral spaces - sleek, standardized and designed for productivity. 'The office wasn't designed for women,' Shampaigne Graves told Daily Mail. That 'default human' - historically modeled on an average male body - shapes everything from thermal standards to chair dimensions. Alston adds: 'Standard office chairs are often designed to fit the average male body… Desk heights and standing desks frequently don't adjust to accommodate petite women.' The goal isn't to design 'for women', but to design for human variability.

Source: Daily Mail February 23, 2026 05:40 UTC