As the commercial goes, think of just about anything, and "there's an app for that." But although thousands of smartphone apps populate online stores, there are significantly fewer apps designed by women for women.
Women in STEM — and tech in particular — have made headlines in the past few years because of the never ending battles against sexism that they fight within the education system and within their individual fields. The tired and patently false narratives which suggest girls can't code, engineer, or design technology is enough to make your blood boil. However, there are women challenging gender stereotypes through their innovations, and they're probably the creators behind apps you're already using.
Although not every app you download needs to have a gender dimension to it (I seriously don't care if a cat designed Bitmoji because it just makes my texting game so much sillier), when it comes to things like dating or anything at all to do with the female body, it does help to have a female-identified touch. Here are five apps designed by women, for women.
1. Bumble
Bumble was designed as the antidote to all those dating apps (ahem Tinder) where dudes incessantly hit you up with creepy messages ad nauseam without your consent. Whitney Wolfe and Sarah Mick (who also happen to be Tinder alums), launched this female-forward dating app wherein women have to make first contact to cut down on sexism and up the empowerment quotient.
2. Spitfire Athlete
Spitfire Athlete was designed by Erin Parker and Nidhi Kulkarni, two female engineers who compete in olympic weightlifting. Marketed as "the ultimate women's strength training app," it allows women to see the workout plans of highly ranked female athletes and design and track their own programs in a culture where gym sexism still reigns supreme.
3. HER
HER is a "lesbian social app" by women for women who like women. With HER's help, you can "finally start dating a woman who hasn't slept with any of your friends," according to their site (ha ha), and if you find 90 percent of lesbian parties "cringey," they will help point out the 10 percent that aren't.
4. Tampon Run
Tampon Run is an app designed by two young women who wanted to de-stigmatize menstruation with an old school shooter style game that involves throwing tampons at your foes. According to the badass feminist text that the game opens with: "Hopefully one day menstruation will be as normal, if not more so, than guns and violence in our society; normal enough to place in a video game without second thought." PREACH.
5. Gratitude
Carla White designed the Gratitude Journal app as a digital way to help people keep track of all that they're grateful for in their lives. It's actually been scientifically proven that focusing in on what you appreciate is good for your health, so the app is a win for both mind, body and spirit.
Unsplash; Bumble; Spitfire Athlete; HER; UnsolicitedProject/YouTube; SuperPaulGames/YouTube; Gratitude
