Sustainable Development Goal 5: Gender Equality
Team Kaya started with the UN’s fifth Sustainable Development Goal; Gender Equality. The team started by analysing the six dimensions of the UN SDG and decided to focus our research on topics affecting women in Spain, specifically young women who faced the challenge of balancing work and career. The research therefore focused on the SDG’s sub topic “5.4 Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work” and “5.5 Ensure women’s full and effective participation […] in Leadership”. These two topics are strongly intertwined and represent a problem area that the team could focus on.
Given complete freedom to define the challenge, the team explored the many facets of the SDG, and after careful analysis of the data available, interviews and design sprints reached the final problem statement of
“How might we create a more supportive dynamic in relationships, so that the distribution of work is equal?”
Solution: We Be
Our solution consists of a wearable device specially for couples. It is a sign of love and partnership, like a wedding ring, but this device collects data throughout the day.
The We-Be’s first iteration is a personalizable bracelet with a discreet screen. It analyzes the heart rate, sleep pattern, stress level, activity, sweat and emotions, and extrapolates a visual “emotional battery” level, that is shared between the couple. This shared emotional battery allows both partners to be aware of how each other are feeling over the course of the day, be it stress, fatigue, or happiness. It allows them to be aware when their partner needs a little bit of extra support, or a lot.
Meanwhile, the sensors on the bracelet monitor the user’s state. Several times per day, the screen will change to a color slider, prompting the user to indicate their current emotional feelings and mood in order to best calculate their emotional battery level. The We-Be is integrated with an app, which delivers an alert if one of the couple enters into critical low battery. From the app the users can also check their own data, as well as giving the couple personalized tips regarding their partners wellbeing.
Aim: Make the invisible, visible and create a dynamic between the couple and to open space for a healthy communication in order to make them both feel loved and supported. Create a balance for working couples and improve awareness of each other.
Project documentation https://cernbox.cern.ch/index.php/s/9dqQWwE3dJoTsJw