This is a submission for the 2026 WeCoded Challenge: Frontend Art
Show us your Art
This is an interactive, scroll-driven experience that visualizes how two identical careers slowly diverge over time.
Both individuals start with:
- the same education
- the same skills
- the same ambition
The only variable that changes is gender.
As you scroll, small differences compound into large outcomes - in salary, promotion speed, and visibility.
At any moment, you can toggle "Remove Bias" and watch both paths instantly align again.
Inspiration
When I thought about gender equity in tech, I didn’t want to create a static illustration.
I wanted to show something more uncomfortable:
That inequality doesn’t always appear as a single dramatic moment - it emerges slowly, through accumulation.
The concept behind Parallel Worlds is simple:
- no single event explains the gap
- but every small difference contributes to it
The "glass ceiling" is not just one barrier.
It’s a system of subtle frictions:
- slightly lower starting offers
- delayed promotions
- different feedback language
- fewer high-visibility opportunities
Individually, these seem small.
Together, they reshape entire careers.
That’s why the project includes an interactive "Remove Bias" toggle.
When activated, the system removes these frictions - and suddenly:
The trajectories become identical again.
The message is simple:
The difference was never talent.
Data & Context
This piece is grounded in real-world data from the EU:
- 11.1% average gender pay gap in the EU (Eurostat, 2024)
- 19.5% women among ICT specialists
- 35.3% women in management roles
- 81 women for every 100 men promoted to first-level management (McKinsey)
The goal wasn’t to simulate reality perfectly,
but to translate these patterns into something you can feel visually.
My Code
This project is built as a lightweight frontend experience:
- HTML
- CSS
- JavaScript
- scroll-based storytelling
- dynamic career simulation
- real-time bias toggle
- glass-shatter interaction
Code + Demo:
https://codepen.io/editor/southy404/pen/019d10f4-ca7f-79b6-b36e-145496c7d2ba
Final Thought
Most people don’t experience inequality as a single obvious barrier.
They experience it as:
a series of small differences that never quite feel big enough to question - until the outcome is impossible to ignore.
This project tries to make that invisible process visible.
If you made it to the end:
Try toggling bias on and off one more time.
That contrast is the entire point.
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