Where You Stand In An Elevator Reveals A Lot About Gender Roles

PhD candidate Rebekah Rousi discovered some interesting patterns when she spent several days riding up and down elevators in two of the tallest buildings in Adelaide, Australia. In her report, she says that:

"As a result of 30 elevator journeys (15 in each building) a clear social order could be seen regarding where people positioned themselves inside the elevators and how they interacted with the design features, such as mirrors and monitors. More senior men in particular seemed to direct themselves towards the back of the elevator cabins. In front of them were younger men, and in front of them were women of all ages. Men watched the monitors, looked in the side mirrors (in one building) to see themselves, and in the door mirrors (of the other building) to also watch others. Women would watch the monitors and avoid eye contact with other users (unless in conversation) and the mirrors. It was only when the women traveled with other women, and just a few at that, that women elevator users would utilize the mirrors. One interviewee even mentioned that she only looked in the mirrors when there was no one else in the elevator."

Rousi created this diagram to show standard positioning:

After observing elevator behavior, Rousi briefly interviewed people about their background and "current mood and personality type loosely based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator."

She dismisses an outright gender or power analysis. Ultimately, a host of factors likely affect how we position ourselves in elevators, including shyness and vanity.

We first learned of Rousi's study from Robert Krulwich at NPR.