On the gender orientation of the design task domain: Empirical study results

This paper is a sequel to the FIE conference paper published in 2002, which highlighted the potential effect of the gender orientation of the product design task domain on the performance of design teams with different gender compositions. Building on the previous work, this study presents a designed experiment where reasons underlying the perceived gender orientation of the task domain were studied using six sections of an introductory engineering (ED&G 100) course during Fall 2003. Data collection included both quantitative (survey items) as well as qualitative (focus groups, open-ended questions) methods. This paper reveals survey study results of the study focusing on understanding task domain's gender orientation. The major finding of the study is that when a task domain is deemed favoring a gender, the reasons for doing so are related to the gender associations of the institutions, objects, actions, and related knowledge. This finding's implications are that if a task's domain is framed in a way to neutralize the gender orientations, a more equitable education environment can be established both for male and female students.