It’s a women’s world, after all.  App analytic company, Appannie, upon releasing a new feature to its  intelligence platform, revealed  that most of the photography apps downloads were done by a majority of women.

Photo sharing sites like  Pinterest know this very well already (80% women), as well as Instagram (68% ) and Snapchat (70%). Not a big surprise, considering how women are more inclined to photographically document their world, whether for domestic reasons (families,weddings, births, childhood) or friendship ( lunches, brunches, vacations, hangouts). A 2013 university study showed that in families, women are overwhelmingly expected to take the initiative in all matters that concern the taking, archiving and overall management of  photos.  It is equally well know that women are more inclined to visually communicate in  social settings, something they already express with fashion and make up. It is no wonder then that they would seek the appropriate tools to fulfill those tasks and become the biggest consumers of photo apps.

While most start-up in this field are built by cross gender teams making it almost impossible to accurately pinpoint women’s influence in their design, it is however extremely clear that the companies are founded – and operated- by men. Furthermore, those are young men, hardly if not at all, implicated in their own family structure.  Not only Snapchat, Pinterest, Instagram  are male managed but out of the top 10 apps, not one was founded by or has a women ceo ( pic collage has a women co founder). Why is that? Are men more apt at designing apps for women or is it that their just no alternative.

Part of the situation is due to the current poor state of women entrepreneur in the tech field, which is something slowly changing. But also, there is a social discrimination that ignores input from under represented genders, even if the data shows otherwise. It will, however, not be a surprise if we see the next photo killer app design by and for women eventually adopted by everyone.

Photo by Özgün ERDEM

Author: Paul Melcher

Paul Melcher is a highly influential and visionary leader in visual tech, with 20+ years of experience in licensing, tech innovation, and entrepreneurship. He is the Managing Director of MelcherSystem and has held executive roles at Corbis, Stipple, and more. Melcher received a Digital Media Licensing Association Award and is a board member of Plus Coalition, Clippn, and Anthology, and has been named among the “100 most influential individuals in American photography”

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