Why Does a Robot’s Gender Matter?

In Castaway, Wilson is Tom Hanks’s only friend. At first just a volleyball being shipped by FedEx, Wilson soon grabs our feelings.

Once a volleyball gets a name, it can become rather endearing.

Gendered Technology

In this brief clip from Castaway, you too can care about Wilson:

Although Tom Hanks said Wilson referred to his wife, Rita Wilson, I assumed the volleyball was male.

In a recent study, researchers concluded that gender does matter when they assigned participants to a non-gender, male, or female hypothetical autonomous vehicle. The first was named Miuu, the second, Jasper, and the third, Iris. Asking a slew of questions, they tried to assess humanization, gendered personality stereotypes, and when participants felt more attached to their cars. Perhaps what we would expect, “Jasper” generated the masculine personality stereotypes and “Iris” the feminine side. For both, gendering led to greater attachment. As for Miuu, people felt less of a connection.

From here, we can take the leap to demand. Recognizing the impact of gendered technology, developers found a path to our loyalty. Even with robotic vacuum cleaners, names that humanized them led to higher ratings.

Our Bottom Line: Eliminating Stereotypes

Scholars in Stanford University’s Gendered Innovations group suggest how robotic design can diminish the perpetuation of harmful stereotypes. Take Siri and Alexa. They listen to what we want them to do. We could even say that they are submissive. As a result, we would be perpetuating the assumptions about female behavior that we should discard.

Illustrating categories for robotic design, Gendered Innovations let us see how technology affects our emotions:

Then, they suggested ways we can create a virtuous circle that encourages social equality:

I wonder, though, whether the quest to minimize harmful stereotypes can surmount our attraction to humanized technology when it depends on those very gendered stereotypes.

Can we stop caring about Wilson?

My sources and more: After my WSJ tech podcast alerted me to gendered tech, the articles multiplied. While this WSJ article and Brookings were helpful, I also recommend this academic paper, its non-gated link, and a visit to Gendered Innovations. Next, even more captivating, this lengthy Atlantic article conveyed why perfectly rational people express their feelings to Alexa and Siri. And finally, I cannot resist concluding with Millie and Veronica, the two Schwartz family cars that I especially care about.