Unintended gender bias in websites is a product of biased tools, culture, and internalized designer biases. This work intends to take the first steps toward addressing this bias by understanding how websites become gendered and the effects of website gender perceptions. In a study to quantify the perceived gender of website design elements, it was also found that there was a correlation between gender and professionalism. When these results were applied to a web design task, similar findings were observed for professionalism, usability, and likability where feminine websites were rated significantly lower than masculine websites. Together, these results were used to create a series of guidelines for gender inclusive web design.
Jacklin Stonewall, M.S.
PhD student
Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering