Gender values, personality and response to environmental issues in students of landscape architecture

Differing gender value systems exist within the culture of students of landscape architecture. These values provide predictable responses to environmental issues. These gender systems are not in the male and female sense but originate in the psyche of both. Feminine versus masculine environmental values is not a battle between men and women, but a conflict in society's view and approach to gender and nature. Masculine values create systems that view the environment as a machine to be modified, fixed, and calibrated. Feminine values recognize the existence of uncertainties and involve a holistic view that respects the uncontrollable variables. Feminine values view the environment as a living entity that requires a caring and nurturing response without a direct immediate reward. The relationship between feminine values and pro-environmental response is cause for a paradigm shift in our approach to the environment.