Investigating Age and Gender Stereotypes

Abstract

This research focuses on the presence of stereotypes regarding age and gender, using as case study the book Cities for people, by Jan Gehl. Recognized worldwide as one of the most important supporters for the rapprochement of the public urban space towards its citizens, Jan Gehl dedicated most of his career to the importance of the human factor in the planning of cities. This study represents a content analysis of the ways in which the characters from the Cities for people book are being presented according to gender and age. The research represents a quantitative analysis of all the images in the book, comprising individuals or groups of people (collective characters) involved in different types of actions.

The results of the study highlight an a relatively equal presence of both genders (48.8% feminine characters and 51.2% masculine characters). Most of the images present individual characters, which gives us the opportunity to clearly see their general image, socio-demographic characteristics (relative age and gender) or carried actions. However, there is a significant percentage of nearly 21% of the images in which the characters are presented as part of a crowd, as collective characters, which causes an increased degree of un-individualization. Even in these cases, non the less, there can be frequently observed a relatively homogeneous mass of people, most of them male adults.

The biggest discrepancy highlighted by the study of the images of this book is with regard to the distribution of the main age categories (children, adolescents, adults and seniors). When it comes to these categories, Cities for people gives a greater attention to the adults, a category of people which is present in nearly 50% of the images. The other 50% is divided between children, adolescents and seniors, the most disadvantaged of them being, surprisingly, the children’s category (present in only 12.1% of the images).