No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
Gender differences in design creativity
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 May 2024
Abstract
Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.
Gender is a crucial factor for creativity in design. Although the participation and recognition of successful and prominent women in the field of design seems to be increasing, many more men are still recognised and regarded as creative. This paper analyses the gender differences in design creativity. First, a summary of studies on gender differences in creativity in general is presented. It then discusses three critical aspects of gender differences in design creativity. Finally, some ways in which women's creativity can be encouraged and supported are outlined.
- Type
- Human Behaviour and Design Creativity
- Information
- Creative Commons
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.- Copyright
- The Author(s), 2024.
References
Abra, J. C. and Valentine-French, S. (1991), "Gender differences in creative achievement: a survey of explanations." Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 117(3), pp. 233-84Google ScholarPubMed
Abraham, A. (2016). Gender and creativity: an overview of psychological and neuroscientific literature. Brain Imaging and Behavior, 10: 609–618. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-015-9410-8CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Acaroglu, L. (2016). How our Implicit Biases Fuel Gender Inequality, and Why We Need Empathy. Medium. https://medium.com/disruptive-design/how-our-implicit-biases-fuel-gender-inequality-and-why-we-need-empathy-f57406ea5063Google Scholar
Alsos, G. A., Ljunggren, E. & Hytti, U. (2013). Gender and innovation: state of the art and a research agenda. International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, 5(3): 236-256. https://dx.doi.org/10.1108/IJGE-06-2013-0049.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alvesson, M. and Sandberg, J. (2020). "The Problematizing Review: A Counterpoint to Elsbach and Van Knippenberg's Argument for Integrative Reviews", J. Manage. Stud., 57, pp. 1290-1304. https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12582. Accessed 14/3/2022.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, N, Potočnik, K, Zhou, J. (2014). Innovation and Creativity in Organizations: A State-of-the-Science Review, Prospective Commentary, and Guiding Framework. Journal of Management, 40(5): 1297-1333. https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0149206314527128CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Askland, H. H., Ostwald, M. & Williams, A. (2010). Changing conceptualisations of creativity in design. In Proceedings of the 1st DESIRE Network Conference on Creativity and Innovation in Design (DESIRE '10). Desire Network, Lancaster, GBR, 4–11.Google Scholar
Baer, J. and Kaufman, J. C. (2008), "Gender differences in creativity" Journal of Creative Behavior, 42, pp. 75–106. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2162-6057.2008.tb01289.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bender, S. W.; Nibbelink, B. L.; Towner-Thyrum, E. and Vredenburg, D. (2013), "Defining Characteristics of Creative Women", Creativity Research Journal, 25(1), pp. 38–47. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2013.752190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bohnet, I. (2016). What Works: Gender Equality by Design. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Bowles, H. R. & Gelfand, M. (2010). Status and the Evaluation of Workplace Deviance. Psychological Science, 21(1): 49–54. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797609356509.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bruce, M. and Lewis, J. (1990), "Women designers — is there a gender trap?", Design Studies, 11(2), pp. 114-120. https://doi.org/10.1016/0142-694X(90)90026-9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charyton, C. and Snelbecker, G. E. (2007), "Engineers’ and Musicians’ Choices of Self-Descriptive Adjectives as Potential Indicators of Creativity by Gender and Domain", Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 1(2), pp. 91–99. 2007. https://doi.org/10.1037/1931-3896.1.2.91.Google Scholar
Clegg, S. and Mayfield, W. (1999), "Gendered by Design: How Women's Place in Design Is Still Defined by Gender", Design Issues, 15 (3), pp. 3-16. https://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1511881.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cropley, D. and Cropley, A. (2017), "Innovation capacity, organisational culture and gender", European Journal of Innovation Management, 20(3), pp. 493-510. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJIM-12-2016-0120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cross, N. (1997), "Descriptive models of creative design: application to an example", Design Studies, 18(4), pp. 427-440. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0142-694X(97)00010-0.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2013), Creativity: the psychology of discovery and invention. Harper Perennial.Google Scholar
Fairs, M. (2018). Design awards recruit more women to move away from "old-white-guy" juries. https://www.dezeen.com/2018/03/12/move-the-needle-design-awards-recruit-more-women-gender-diversityGoogle Scholar
Fine, C. (2010), "From Scanner to Sound Bite: Issues in Interpreting and Reporting Sex Differences in the Brain", Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19(5), pp. 280-283. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721410383248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foss, L., Woll, K., and Moilanen, M. (2013), "Creativity and implementations of new ideas: Do organisational structure, work environment and gender matter?", International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, 5(3), pp. 298-322. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJGE-09-2012-0049.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frearson, A. (2017). RCA tutor attacks gender bias in architectural education with female-focused reading list. https://www.dezeen.com/2017/09/19/harriet-harriss-rca-tutor-attacks-architecture-gender-bias-education-female-focused-reading-list-schools-universities/Google Scholar
Gero, J., Yu, R. and Wells, J. (2019), "The effect of design education on creative design cognition of high school students", International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation, 7:4, pp. 196-212. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21650349.2019.1628664CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guilford, J. P. (1975), "Creativity: A quarter century of progress". In Taylor, A. & Getzels, J. W. (Eds.), Perspectives in creativity, pp. 37-59. Chicago: Aldine.Google Scholar
Han, J., Forbes, H. and Schaefer, D. (2021), "An exploration of how creativity, functionality, and aesthetics are related in design", Res Eng Design, 32, pp. 289–307. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00163-021-00366-9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hentschel, H. Ahmed, S. I., and Hussain, F. (2017), "Nova Ahmed, and Neha Kumar. Working with Women in ICTD". In Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD '17), Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 20, pp. 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1145/3136560.3136585CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hollanders, H. and van Cruysen, A. (2009), "Design, Creativity and Innovation: A Scoreboard Approach", INNO Metrics 2008 report, Brussels: European Commission, DG Enterprise.Google Scholar
Hunter, S. T., Farr, J. L., Heinen, R. L., and Allen, J. B. (2019), "Integrating Creative Climate and Creative Problem-Solving". In: Mumford, M.D., & Todd, E.M. (Eds.) Creativity and Innovation in Organizations. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315192598CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaufman, M. (2019), The Time Has Come: Why Men Must Join the Gender Equality Revolution. Counterpoint.Google Scholar
Keener, E. (2015), "The Complexity of Gender: It Is All That and More…. In sum, It Is Complicated", Sex Roles, 73, pp. 481–489. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-015-0542-5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kemmelmeier, M. and Walton, A. P. (2016), "Creativity in Men and Women: Threat, Other-Interest, and Self-Assessment", Creativity Research Journal, 28:1, pp. 78-88, https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2016.1125266CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kossek, EE, Su, R, and Wu, L. (2017), "“Opting Out” or “Pushed Out”? Integrating Perspectives on Women's Career Equality for Gender Inclusion and Interventions", Journal of Management, 43(1), pp. 228-254. https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0149206316671582CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lazar, L. (2018). The Cognitive Neuroscience of Design Creativity. Journal of Experimental Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.1177/1179069518809664CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindberg, M., Danilda, I., & Torstensson, B. (2012). Women Resource Centres—A Creative Knowledge Environment of Quadruple Helix. Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 3: 36–52. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-011-0053-8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milovanovic, J. and Gero, J. (2019), "Exploration of gender diversity effects on design team dynamics", Human Behavior in Design, Universitat Munchen, Apr 2019, Tutzing, Germany.Google Scholar
Ng, A.W., Siu, K.W.M. and Chan, C.C. (2013), "Perspectives toward the stereotype production method for public symbol design: a case study of novice designers", Applied Ergonomics, 44(1), pp. 65–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2012.04.011CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nielsen, M. W., Alegria, S., Börjeson, L., Etzkowitz, H., Falk-Krzesinski, H. J., Joshi, A., Leahey, E., Smith-Doerr, L., Woolley, A. W. and Schiebinger, L. (2017), "Gender diversity leads to better science", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114 (8), pp. 1740-1742. https://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1700616114CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Okudan, G. E. and Mohammed, S. (2006), "Task gender orientation perceptions by novice designers: implications for engineering design research, teaching and practice", Design Studies, 27(6), pp. 723-740. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.destud.2006.07.003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oudshoorn, N., Rommes, E., and Stienstra, M. (2004), "Configuring the User as Everybody: Gender and Design Cultures in Information and Communication Technologies" Science, Technology, & Human Values, 29(1), pp. 30-63. https://doi.org/10.1177/0162243903259190CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oudshoorn, N., Neven, L., and Stienstra, M. (2016), "How diversity gets lost: Age and gender in design practices of information and communication technologies" Journal of Women & Aging, 28(2), pp. 170-185. https://doi.org/10.1080/08952841.2015.1013834CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pagnani, A. R. (2011), "Gender differences". In Runco, M. A. & Pritzker, S. R. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of creativity (Second Edition). San Diego: Academic, pp. 551–557.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pandey, U. C. and Chhabi, K. (2019), SDG5 - Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women and Girls, Emerald Publishing Limited.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pecis, L. (2016). Doing and undoing gender in innovation: Femininities and masculinities in innovation processes. Human Relations, 69(11): 2117–2140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pettersson, K. & Lindberg, M. (2013). Paradoxical spaces of feminist resistance: Mapping the margin to the masculinist innovation discourse, International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, 5(3): 323-341. ISSN: 1756-6266CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pesout, O. and Nietfeld, J. L. (2021), "How creative am I?: Examining judgments and predictors of creative performance", Thinking Skills and Creativity, 40, June 2021, 100836, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2021.100836.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piirto, J. (1991), "Why are there so few? (Creative women: Visual artists, mathematicians, musicians)", Roeper Review, 13(3), pp. 142–147. https://doi.org/10.1080/02783199109553340CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reimer, S. (2016), "‘It's just a very male industry’: gender and work in UK design agencies", Gender, Place and Culture, 23(7), pp. 1033–1046. https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2015.1073704CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reis, S. M. (2002), "Toward a Theory of Creativity in Diverse Creative Women", Creativity Research Journal, 14, 3 & 4, pp. 305–316. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15326934CRJ1434_2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rincón, V., Karle, M. & Barrero, K. (2017). Women and leadership: Gender barriers to senior management positions, Intangible Capital, 3(2), 319-352. http://dx.doi.org/10.3926/ic.889CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rippon, G. (2019), Gender and Our Brains: How New Neuroscience Explodes the Myths of the Male and Female Minds. Pantheon.Google Scholar
Rippon, G., Jordan-Young, R., Kaiser, A. and Fine, C. (2014), "Recommendations for sex/gender neuroimaging research: key principles and implications for research design, analysis, and interpretation", Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8 (650), pp. 1-13. https://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00650CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robertson, T. and Simonsen, J. (2012), "Challenges and Opportunities in Contemporary Participatory Design", Design Issues, 28(3), pp. 3-9. https://doi.org/10.1162/DESI_a_00157CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Runco, M.A., Cramond, B. and Pagnani, A.R. (2010), "Gender and Creativity". In: Chrisler, J., McCreary, D. (Eds) Handbook of Gender Research in Psychology. New York: Springer, pp. 343-357.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sarkar, P. and Chakrabarti, A. (2011), "Assessing design creativity", Design Studies, 32(4), pp. 348-383, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.destud.2011.01.002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Souto, V. T., Faria, P. C. L. A. and Santos, F. A. (2015), "The Creative Process in Digital Design: Towards an Understanding of Women's Approach". In: Marcus, A. (Ed.): DUXU 2015, Part II, LNCS 9187, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing: 252–263. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20898-5_25CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Still, B. and Crane, K. (2017), Fundamentals of User-Centered Design: a Practical Approach. Boca Raton: CRC Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stumpf, S., Peters, A., Bardzell, S., Burnett, M., Busse, D., Cauchard, J. and Churchill, E. (2020), "Gender-Inclusive HCI Research and Design: A Conceptual Review", Foundations and Trends in Human–Computer Interaction, 13(1), pp. 1-69. https://dx.doi.org/10.1561/1100000056CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taura, T. & Nagai, Y. (2017). Creativity in Innovation Design: the roles of intuition, synthesis, and hypothesis. International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation, 5(3-4): 131-148. https://doi.org/10.1080/21650349.2017.1313132CrossRefGoogle Scholar
The Work Foundation. (2013), Staying ahead: the economic performance of the UK's creative industries [online]. https://static.a-n.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/4175593.pdf (accessed: 13.11.2023).Google Scholar
United Nations (2021). Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls [online]. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/gender-equality/ (accessed: 13.11.2023).Google Scholar
UNESCO. (2014). Gender Equality Heritage and Creativity. Paris: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000229418 (accessed: 13.11.2023).Google Scholar
Wang, M., Eccles, J. S. and Kenny, S. (2013), "Not Lack of Ability but More Choice: Individual and Gender Differences in Choice of Careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics". Psychological Science, 24(5), pp. 770–775. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797612458937CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
World Bank. (2012), World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development. [online] World Bank. World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/4391 (accessed: 13.11.2023).Google Scholar
World Health Organization. (2018), The health and well-being of men in the WHO European Region: better health through a gender approach [online]. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/329686/9789289053532-eng.pdf (accessed: 13.11.2023).Google Scholar
You have
Access
Open access