Gendered Numbers

Both animate and inanimate objects are associated with a gender, products are associated with a gender depending on the question whether more men or women are seen using it more often but also depending on the perceived quality … such as the so-called gentle (hence) feminine product. Gender is also associated with "highly abstract and ostensibly nonsocial concepts", such as numbers.



Historically, numbers have been linked to a gender for a long time and there are examples from ancient Greece and Chinese philosophy. Traditionally, odd numbers used to be seen as masculine, even numbers as feminine. While some may argue that this is just an arbitrary ascription, some scholars say that "representations of abstract concepts must be extrapolated from concrete ones, even when there is little superficial similarity between the two". In other words, there is more to it. And that is where it gets interesting.

In their first study, Wilkie and Bodenhausen investigated gender connotations of "1" and "2". They presented a US-American sample foreign names, i.e. ambiguous stimuli and expected them to be rated more masculine when presented with the number "1" than when paired with the number "2". Results showed that, as predicted, Bulgarian names paired with "1" were rated as more masculine (M = 5.51 vs. M = 5.17). The same was true for Spanish names paired with "1" (M = 4.51 vs. M = 4.29).

In a second study, participants had to evaluate the Bulgarian names paired with three-digit numbers with digits that were either completely even or completely odd. Again there was a tendency to rate names presented with odd numbers as more masculine (M = 5.43 vs. 5.15). In their third study, the stimuli were babies' faces (that are often ambiguous) instead of names, presented with numbers. Here too, babies were more often rated as masculine when presented with the number "1" than with "2" (M = 3.79 vs. M = 3.47). The authors come to the conclusion that "numbers are indeed gendered".

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And now for something completely different. Jazz Numbers (1969): WATCH
For more about the "free jazz, Yellow Submarine-style surrealistic animation" see: Open Culture

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- Wilkie, J. E. B. & Bodenhausen, G. V. (2011). Are Numbers Gendered? Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1-5
- photograph of Veruschka von Lehndorff, Max Brunell, Carlo Ortiz and a beautiful Fiat Dino (1969) via

This posting originally appeared on Science on Google+ on 15 March 2015.

The -ism Series (19): Tokenism

"Tokenism is defined as an intergroup context in which very few members of a dis-advantaged group are accepted into positions usually reserved for members of the advantaged group, while access is systematically denied for the vast majority of disqualified disadvantaged group members." (Wright & Taylor, 1998)



In her theoretical framework, Rosabeth Moss Kanter distinguishes between a) uniform groups (homogeneous groups in which all members hold the same master statuses, ratio of majority to minority group members is 100:0), b) skewed groups (majority group members far outnumber minority group members, ratio from 99:1 to 85:15), c) tilted groups (less extreme distributions with ratios from 84:16 to 65:35, hence, minority group members can form coalitions and experience less stress) and d) balanced groups (ratios from 64:36 to 50:50).
Skewed groups are characterised by a clear disproportion between majority and minority. In this context, Kanter refers to majority group members as "dominants" and calls minority group members "tokens". As a token, the individual is treated as a representative of the category the individual belongs to, as a typical symbol rather than an individual person. In other words, what one does and how is not attributed to the individual but to the group he or she is considered to be representing. Token woman Mary, for example, is not bad at math because she (the individual) is not good at it but because women (the group) are said not be good at it (see illustration). According to Kanter, tokens experience more stress because they are under performance pressure, are constantly reminded to be "different" and are confronted with stereotyped assumptions on a regular basis (Braboy Jackson et al., 1995).



Kanter's numerical approach certainly explains a great many mechanisms. The reliance on numbers only, however, is criticised for neglecting complexities such as gender status, occupational inappropriateness, and intrusiveness (particularly as Kanter focused on women working in "gender-inappropriate" fields). In fact, token men do not necessarily share the negative experiences of token women (Yoder, 1991) since negative outcomes are primarily associated with low-status groups (e.g. women, ethnic minorities) (Settles et al., 2006).



- Braboy Jackson, P., Thoits, P. A. & Taylor, H. F. (1995) Composition of the Workplace. The Effects of Tokenism on America's Black Elite. Social Forces, 74(2), 543-557
- Settles, I. H. & Buchanan, N. T. (2006) Psychology of Tokenism. In Jackson, Y. K. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Multicultural Psychology, 455-456, Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications
- Wright, S. C. & Taylor, D. M. (1998) Responding To Tokenism: individual action in the face of collective injustice. European Journal of Social Psychology, 28, 647-667
- Yoder, J. D. (1991) Rethinking Tokenism: Looking Beyond Numbers. Gender & Society, 5(2), 178-192
- photographs by Bert Stern (1960) of Veruschka Von Lehndorff with Walter Matthau, Art Carney and Mike Nichols, Vogue via and via and by Bert Stern (1961)Veruschka with David Bailey via