Gender script

A gender script is a concept in feminist studies of science and technology and refers to how designers' ideas about gendered identities and relationships translate into the design and use of technical artifacts. It comes from science and technology scholar Steve Woolgar's notion of "configuring the user", where designers and advertisers struggle to define, enable, and constrain users in particular ways.[1] It also comes from science and technology scholar Madeleine Akrich's concept of "script", which illustrates how designers ideas about users influence development, and how that use shapes users' environments.[2]

Concept

As science and technology scholar Ellen van Oost writes, "gender can be an explicit or implicit element in the design process".[3] When products are specifically designed for a specific gendered group of consumers, gender is often explicit. In explicit cases, existing or stereotypical ideas about gender will show up in technical artifacts.

Pink razors are often marketed towards women, though they function the same as men's razors.

Technological scripts are pre-existing, pre-attributed traits that have been designated to the technology, in which those who use it “attribute and delegate specific competencies, actions, and responsibilities” to the envisioned user of the technology.[4] These technologies thus reveal specific gender patterns that soon become gender scripts.[5]

Examples

Children's toys are an explicit example how gender scripts; toys designed for girls will be pink and toys designed for boys will be blue. Another example Oost gives is of razors and other shaving products, which tend to be pink or white for women, and darker for men—even though both products work virtually the same. Other technological examples include pink earphones for women, pink computers, and even pink guns. Pinterest is another example. In their article investigating the gender script of the site, scholars Amanda Friz and Robert Gehl demonstrate how specific aspects of the site is geared toward women, especially during the sign-up process.[6]

Earphones marketed to women
How gender scripts envision women users of technology

A specific example that looks at the feminization of an existing product is the process of redesigning cellphones to sell to a female audience. In the attempt to appeal to a female audience, both telephone technologies and design were altered. As mobile phones were first introduced to women in the 1990s, it was marketed as a tool for "remote mothering", or as safety devices for traveling.[7] As cellphone use began to gain momentum, the design and marketing of mobile phones for females shifted to include branding the devices as "branded fashion accessories and as status symbols through limited edition haute couture items.[5] Customization in the form of ringtones and wallpapers were deemed to appeal to a female audience, and thus introduced to the mobile market. The Nokia 7270 folding phone was a fusion of functionality, usability and fashion; it featured "chic, interchangeable fabric wraps... allow[ing] you to impulsively change your look as often and as boldly as you please".[5] This sort of "trendy and impulsive consumption styles" were generally regarded as female consumption patterns.[8] By doing so, Nokia was able to market their mobile phones (being that technology enthusiasm were usually regarded as typically a male interest) to a larger market.[5]

Critique

In implicit processes, the gender politics will be less obvious. As van Oost notes, many objects are designed for "everybody", with no specific user group in mind.[9] However, some studies have demonstrated that even in these cases, there may be an unconscious bias where designers base their choices on a one-sided, default male user image. This can be due to many factors. One factor could be the result of who is involved in design and engineering. On teams where men are the majority, they may use the I-methodology, where they only see themselves as the intended users. This can create a bias toward male-oriented symbols and interests. This can also happen at the level of user testing if the user testers are all male and nobody considers the user needs of all potential users. By configuring the user as "everybody", technology can therefore only represent the interests of dominant social groups. An example of this could be the design of Wikipedia. With the majority of Wikipedia's engineers and editors being men who have technical skills, the design of the user interface can unintentionally make it more difficult for people from different social groups to contribute.[10] This can result in an underrepresentation of diverse viewpoints, skewing the comprehensiveness of data available.

Like gender, however, the gender script is not fixed but is constantly negotiated. Users do not have to accept the scripts but can also reject or adapt to it. At the same time, however, scripts tend to act in inviting or inhibiting ways for those who wish to resist them.[11]

References
  1. Woolgar, Steve (May 1990). "Configuring the user: the case of usability trials". The Sociological Review. 38 (S1): 58–99. doi:10.1111/j.1467-954X.1990.tb03349.x.
  2. Akrich, Madeleine (1992). Shaping Technology / Building Society: Studies in Sociotechnical Change. Cambridge: MIT Press. pp. 205–224.
  3. van Oost, Ellen (2003). Nelly Oudshoorn and Trevor Pinch (ed.). How Users Matter: The Co-Construction of Users and Technology. MIT Press. pp. 193–208. ISBN 0-262-15107-3.
  4. Rommes, E. (2002). Gender Scripts and the Internet: the Design and Use of Amsterdam’s Digital City, Twente University Press, Enschede.
  5. Shade, L.R. (2007). Feminizing the Mobile: Gender Scripting of Mobiles in North America. Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, 21(2), 179-189.
  6. Friz, A.; Gehl, R. W. (11 January 2016). "Pinning the feminine user: gender scripts in Pinterests sign-up interface". Media, Culture & Society. 38 (5): 686–703. doi:10.1177/0163443715620925.
  7. Rakow; Navarro (1993). "Remote mothering and the parallel shift: women meet the cellular telephone". Critical Studies in Mass Communication. 10: 144–157.
  8. Wilska (2003). "Mobile phone use as part of young people's consumption styles". Journal of Consumer Policy. 26: 441–463.
  9. van Oost, Ellen (2003). Nelly Oudshoorn and Trevor Pinch (ed.). How Users Matter: The Co-Construction of Users and Technology. MIT Press. p. 196. ISBN 0-262-15107-3.
  10. Gardner, Sue (19 February 2011). "Nine Reasons Why Women Don't Edit Wikipedia, In Their Own Words". suegardner.org (blog).
  11. Verbeek, P.P. (2000). De daadkracht der dingen – over techniek, filosofie en vormgeving. Amsterdam: Boom. p. 191.
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