Extended Virtual Reality: Analyzing Gender
The Challenge
Technologies under the umbrella term Extended Reality (XR)—including Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR)—combine elements of real and virtual worlds in computer environments, human-machine interaction, and electronic wearables. These technologies may be deployed to reduce unconscious bias by enhancing empathy in ways that advance gender equality. However, women, men, and gender-diverse people may experience virtual environments differently, and these differences need to be taken into account in the development and testing of prototypes. How can XR technologies be made to work for everyone and be used to promote gender equality?
Gendered Innovation 1: Promoting Gender Equality through VR
VR provides a technology for humans to create imaginary worlds—in this case, virtual worlds where gender equality exists with the hope that these experiences will modify behaviors in the real world. VR and AR may help us develop higher levels of empathy in specific contexts, which can, in turn, reduce implicit bias. One study reported the use of VR to overcome homophobia. VeeR VR, a large VR/360 company in Beijing, conducted a social experiment to enhance empathy for LGBTQ+ people. Because of the 360° feature, it was possible for people to experience the experiment from both the point of view of the LGBTQ+ person and the point of view of other participants (Khosravi, 2018).
Method: Analyzing Gender
Gender bias fuels social inequalities. Bias feeds on the tendency to favor one’s own group at the expense of others. According to social psychologists, bias can be sorted into emotional bias (prejudice), cognitive bias (stereotypes), and behavioral bias or discrimination (Dovidio & Gaertner, 2010). More specifically, bias refers to the (conscious or unconscious) preference for or prejudice against one group over another (FitzGerald & Hurst, 2017). Gender bias exists not solely on an individual level but also on a structural societal level (LERU, 2018).
Two other projects used XR to enhance gender equality through imagined scenarios. In 2017, the marketing firm Y&R New York launched an app that creates virtual statues of significant women throughout the city. In a call to action to support the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal #5, Gender Equality, the developers encouraged cities around the world to erect statues of pioneering women (Y&R New York, 2017). At about the same time, Notable Women and Google developed an Augmented Reality app to add notable women to US banknotes (see example below). Of the 238 currencies reviewed, 83, including the United States, feature only men on banknotes. By contrast, Sweden, Japan, and Australia had an equal mix of women and men. A few countries, including Belize, featured only women (Notable Women, 2015). You can try the app for yourself at: nexusstudios.com/work/notable-women/.
The Smithsonian American Women's History Museum launched a similar project, Unhidden Heroines, on the US National Mall in Washington, D.C. in 2026. The project addresses the lack of women featured among the Mall's physical monuments. When visitors point their smartphones at landmarks honoring historical men, "monument-sized" 3D animations and first-person narrations of trailblazing women pop up (Larson, 2026).
Immersive VR also comes with risks: A 2026 review of 85 studies found that VR’s immersive features intensify both the risk and the impact of harassment, with women, LGBTQ+ people, and racialized groups facing disproportionate targeting (Dong et al., 2026; Taylor et al., 2026). VR can also offer solutions by generating empathy for victims and improving recognition of harmful online behaviors in social spaces. In one experiment, researchers developed an immersive VR experience in which young people experienced violations of personal space and social exclusion analogous to online harassment. Evaluations of this research found that the participants gained better understandings of cyberbullying and increased their intention to intervene in cyberbullying situations (Wienrich et al., 2024). A systematic review of twenty XR studies addressing online harassment found that immersive VR consistently generated empathy toward victims, improved recognition of bullying behaviors, and strengthened intentions to intervene as bystanders (Boboc & Damaševičius, 2024).
Gendered Innovation 2: Improving Healthcare with XR
XR technologies are increasingly used in healthcare to diagnose and manage patients with pain, disability, obesity, neurologic dysfunction, anxiety, and depression. MAMMOCARE, a study funded under EU Horizon 2020, has developed a 3D visualization tool that makes it possible to detect small lesions in the breast that are difficult to find using conventional technologies, contributing to earlier diagnosis of breast cancer (MAMMOCARE, 2016).Hospitals have started experimenting with 360° VR headsets to relax women in the early stages of labor by immersing them in peaceful environments designed to reduce pain. Evaluations found that three quarters of the 20 patients experienced pain relief with the VR technique (Cowles et al., 2019). A later review of ten randomized controlled trials confirmed this pattern across 931 women, with VR consistently reducing both pain and anxiety during labor (Kyei et al., 2025).
XRHealth, a certified Virtual Reality medical company, has designed a registered medical XR app to help breast cancer patients manage hot flashes that may occur as treatment side effects. When the patient puts on the VR headset, an AI trainer called Luna appears to guide the user through cognitive behavioral therapy and other coping mechanisms. A pilot study found that patients with breast cancer who experience hot flashes reported 50 percent fewer hot flashes and night sweats after training (XRHealth, 2019).
Women are more than twice as likely as men to feel unwell from using Virtual Reality, with symptoms such as pallor, sweating, increased heartrate, drowsiness, disorientation and general discomfort (Al Zayer et al., 2019; Munafo et al., 2017). These symptoms may be due to conflict between the body’s visual and vestibular (inner ear) systems, resulting in greater sensitivity in women.
Compared to women, men are less likely to engage in preventive health care—behavior that can result in poorer outcomes and increased burden on healthcare systems. VR has proven effective in triggering men’s engagement in preventive health care, for example, by prompting them to seek screening for testicular disorders (Saab et al., 2018).Gendered Innovation 3: Making the Technology Work for All Users
Introducing VR into healthcare—or any field—requires careful analysis of sex, gender, race & ethnicity, and their intersections to make these innovations effective. Like many technologies, XR hardware has been designed for and tested primarily on men. As a result, women using VR are twice as likely as men to experience pallor, sweating, increased heart rate, drowsiness, disorientation, and general discomfort (Al Zayer et al, 2019; Munafo et al., 2017). One factor is headset design. For example, IPD, or interpupillary distance (the horizontal distance between the centers of the pupils), varies across users, with narrower ranges for females [51–74.5 mm] compared to males [53–77.5 mm]. Headsets that do not accommodate a user’s IPD may trigger cybersickness, including eye strain, headaches, and motion sickness (Stanney et al., 2020). Some new generation headsets, such as the Apple Vision Pro, support an IPD range of 51–75 mm, accommodating the vast majority of women and men users, and dramatically reducing cybersickness in women.Methods: Intersectional Analysis
Method: Intersectional Analysis In addition to analyzing sex and gender, XR platforms may need to consider other intersectional factors. Buolamwini and Gebru (2018) found that facial-analysis systems misidentified darker-skinned women far more often than lighter-skinned men. As XR platforms incorporate more facial tracking, these errors may impact user experiences. Designers need to analyze sex, gender, race, ethnicity, and their intersections when they build XR technologies—especially for social innovations. It is important to develop virtual settings that include women and men from diverse backgrounds in the development and testing of prototypes. These devices need to work well for all users.
Headset design also requires gender and ethnicity analysis: Taylor et al. (2026) revealed barriers that sex analysis alone may miss. In this case, VR headsets may not fit women’s hairstyles that include updos, French twists, ponytails, and a variety of buns. And the problem is exacerbated by braided hairstyles and hair textures common among Black women. Headsets not designed for women may disrupt optimal visual alignment. To overcome these problems, manufacturers are experimenting with split-back straps. By splitting the horizontal rear band into two adjustable upper and lower bands, the strap can accommodate various skull shapes and hairstyles (Meta Platforms, Inc., 2023).
Conclusions
Extended reality mixes elements of the virtual world into our perceptions of the real world, thus enhancing the things we see, hear, and feel. This case study has suggested how these technologies might prove fruitful in promoting gender equality and new modes of healthcare. It is important to develop virtual settings in sex-, gender-, and intersectional-sensitive ways by including women and men from diverse backgrounds in the developmentand testing of prototypes.
Works Cited
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