Designing Media for Women with Mariana Santos
What led you to start Chicas Poderosas?
During a fellowship in LATAM, I noticed that most digital and tech organisations were led by men. Women were missing in digital transformation, in the media. They were doing the investigation and the reporting, but they would not publish the stories online because they were not comfortable with digital. So I wanted to create a space for women to have their voices heard and give them the tools to create on the digital sphere. Today, we are training women in over 17 countries and giving them the confidence to grab the mic and speak up. I’ve seen how women we have trained have contributed to narratives that change the law.
What have you learned about women and girls over the years?
Women are not allowed to be powerful — a safe and transparent space can make them feel powerful
Women are afraid of failing, so we empower them to “fail fast and succeed soon.” We needed a safe space to do this. We’ve built a code of conduct overtime to ensure safety in our spaces. We have an email account where anyone in need can reach out if they feel unsafe or harassed. The email account serves as an internal checkpoint for us too, to see how we are doing. We’ve created protocols to manage the requests that come through. We have minutes of all our meetings and departments work closely together and are in the know of what’s going on in the organisation. As the organizational leader, I am clear and transparent about our mission and vision too.
Cultural context matters
Designing for a woman in Bolivia is different from a woman in Argentina. In Argentina, women are making history by self organizing virtually and taking action, by doing investigative research on the access to reproductive rights across the 24 states. They are changing the law with their investigations. In Bolivia, radio communicators are getting together to produce podcasts, organize competitions and share stories vía sound, since the internet in Bolivia is controlled by the government. We couldn't teach the same program in Argentina and Bolivia as we need local contextualization and these countries work differently. We had to take into consideration levels of internet access and the current possible use of technology.
Because we have a presence in Spanish & Portuguese speaking countries, I’ve noticed the differences in our LATAM vs European communities. The women in LATAM have to fight harder and more loudly because they are fighting for survival – they are fighting to feed their baby, to not be raped by a family member (especially during COVID). I’ve seen that when you have nothing to lose, you are not so afraid. In Latin América the gender gap and access to human rights is very different, so I feel that the fight there is much louder, visible and effective in making social change.
What are some examples you’re seeing that are truly designing for women?
The Green Movements in Argentina: they are bringing sexual reproductive rights to LATAM women. Three years ago, they began walking in the streets to fight for their bodies. Now they are organised and putting stories out there, they are putting their heads together to make history. Just a few years ago, they couldn’t vote and now they are moving the needle on human rights.
About Mariana Santos
Mariana Santos is a Portuguese entrepreneur who started a global community to empower women in media around the world. Founder and Executive Director of Chicas Poderosas, Santos started her career as interactive data visualisation designer at the Guardian newspaper in London where she did groundbreaking work as a member of the interactive team, trained animator, and pioneered the newsroom’s use of motion graphics to make data stories more compelling. She’s named Apolitical’s 100 Most Influential People in Gender Policy and is part of the PLD30 class of 2020-22 of Harvard Business School - Program of Leadership & Development with speciality in digital transformation. She is also Co-founder of ANIMAME Algarve, an NGO to promote the cultural exchange in Algarve, and Co-founder of TTI Tax, a tech intelligence start up incubated at Demium, in Lisbon 2019-2021.