I have been folding paper since 1978/79. When I started it was very hard to find
Origami books then. Internet was yet to come. People were surprised that a grown up
man ( though I was 23 yrs) was folding paper; enjoying it and was happy.
In India; Origami to a large extent is still a craft activity for children. Moreso; for
Craft Teachers, who were mostly ladies.
Most of the parents wanted their sons to learn to make an airplane and daughters
to learn to make flowers etc.
Fortunately there has been some changes in last one and half decades
Govind Kulkarni
Kaagaz Ka Karigar!!!
Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2022 at 9:07 AM
From: "Anna via Origami" <[email protected]>
To: "Elina Gor" <[email protected]>, "The Origami Mailing List" <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [Origami] Research on gender differences in origami
From: "Anna via Origami" <[email protected]>
To: "Elina Gor" <[email protected]>, "The Origami Mailing List" <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [Origami] Research on gender differences in origami
Elina Gor wrote:
> I'm looking for published articles about gender differences in origami, if there are any.
> Other subjects of interest are age differences, education and work fields differences.
My personal observations over the years is, that there are differences that often depend on the regional culture and age of the folders. In north western societies, like most of Europe and the USA, there is often a strong gender difference, in that women tend to fold simple practical and pretty things like modular boxes, modulars, and jewelry, whereas men are more keen to fold realistic replicas of things around them, like animals or game characters. Most young folders hereby want to test out the limits of what is possible, the more complex, the better. With age paradigms often shift and people prefer nice folding sequences over difficulty, leading in turn to fold more abstract yet often more refined models, often these are simpler in appearance too. At conventions in these regions, you often stumble upon women that only fold boxes and simple modulars, upon groups of young men folding complex dragons and other figurines and upon people of all ages and sexes that fell in love with tessellations and stopped folding anything else. When I attended a convention in Colombia I was surprised to see none of those gender differences, everyone folded everything, there were men selling their self made jewelry and women giving/attending classes for complex dragons and such things. For the north western regions, I think that these gender differences are strongly anchored in the society itself. From a young age boys are encouraged to explore, to study their surroundings, to be interested in technical things, whereas girls are expected to do girly things, to act responsible and do quiet things without asking too many questions.
Origami is very diverse. There are many styles, areas and niches to choose from. Some people specialize in one of those fields, others like to do a little bit of everything.
As for work fields, I found that there are many scientists that are drawn to origami. No wonder, scientists love logical patterns and Origami provides exactly that.
Nice greetings from someone who likes to fold almost anything but has a slight preference towards complex things from single sheets, with nice folding sequences and ingenious colour changes.
Anna from Vienna, Austria
