“Almost all the artifacts we value as a society were made by or at the order of men. But behind every one is an invisible infrastructure of labor-primarily caregiving, in its various aspects-that is performed mostly by women.”
Debbie Chacra, “Beyond Making,” in Making Things and Drawing Boundaries: Experiments in the Digital Humanities, ed. Jentry Sayers, Debates in the Digital Humanities (University of Minnesota Press, 2017).
After reading these lines, I couldn’t help but reflect on how relevant this in society. In many areas of society, sexism is prevalent. Women generally receive some sort of respect when they do their “traditional” duties and even then, there is not much admiration. So why are women not appreciated or acknowledged as much as men? Think about the resources that we use everyday life. Take, for example, going on road trips or traveling to a new destination. What do we resort to? We are quick to open Google Maps, Apple Maps, or Waze. These are based on the GPS system. A core pioneer of this happened to be a woman named Gladys West. How come she’s rarely brought up? It probably has to do with the fact that she’s a woman. Not only is she a woman, but a Black woman too. This leads me to another thought about how race might also play a part in who gets acknowledged as “makers”.
During high school, I often recalled feeling “behind” in my experience with fields such as coding, 3D modeling, and other STEM based forms of making. It was not something I was interested in, but I knew it was important to know how to do. When I was younger, my dad would tell my siblings and I about Tinkerkad. He always told us the importance of understanding how to develop 3D models, coding, and expanding our digital literacy. Even now with the rise of Artificial Intelligence, it is crucial to develop skills in these areas because it is the future. Being exposed to Fusion in class has made me more eager to rekindle my relationship with 3D modeling. For as long as I can remember, I have always had deep admiration for the arts. I believe it is a core component of our society and culture. It is about education woven into expression. As the term continues, I am looking forward to seeing how I will strengthen my 3D modeling skills.