Tim Harford sharing an interesting example of how designing body armour for female soldiers had surprising benefits for male soldiers.
David Epstein describes the moment the US Army tried to adapt its body armour for female soldiers. As Caroline Criado Perez forcefully argues in Invisible Women, women are not merely scaled-down men and are not well served by equipment designed for men. But as the US Army started grappling with that challenge, they discovered some surprising benefits. They were able to replace 11 sizes of body armour with just eight sizes by making the armour a modular mix-and-match system. This simplified manufacture and logistics while greatly expanding the options available to an individual soldier.
Meanwhile, many of the men in the army found the “female” modules a better fit — a narrow vest gave room to soldier a rifle, while a notch in the back of the helmet designed to accommodate hair buns allowed all soldiers, regardless of hair-do, to raise their heads while prone. “A new, more meticulous sizing process that benefitted women benefitted everyone,” Epstein writes.