Grammatical gender influence

Unlike English, nouns in many languages have grammatical gender, for example German and French. Speakers of these languages must take care to mark gender with definite articles and pronouns. They also must alter adjectives and even verbs for gender agreement. But can grammatical gender influence speakers’ thinking when they’re speaking another language entirely? Take for example the word "chair", which has opposite genders in German (masculine; der Stuhl), and French (feminine; la chaise). Would object gender, then, influence designers when they generate, develop and communicate ideas? Many designers like to believe design processes are "neutral" in focusing on problem solving. But if gendered conventions of language can influence our thoughts, even in small, subtle ways — making a chair seem sturdier (masculine) or prettier (feminine) might suggest design is not free of gender stereotypes. Moreover, imagine how grammatical gender might affect not only design ideation but thoughts, feelings, and behaviours of consumers in global markets.