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Gender Classification Using Images: A Comprehensive

Review and Analysis
Suhani Singhal Sudhakar Kr Trivedi
Department of Computer science Department of Computer Science
And Engineering And Engineering
Quantum University , Roorkee Quantum University , Roorkee
[email protected] [email protected]

Shalu Singh Simran Devi

Department of computer science Department of computer science
And Engineering And Engineering
Quantum University , Roorkee Quantum University , Roorkee
[email protected] [email protected]

Somaditya Das
Department of computer science
And Engineering
Quantum University , Roorkee
[email protected]

Abstract: The task of automatically image variations, and the critical ethical
classifying gender from images has considerations surrounding the
emerged as a pivotal area of research deployment of this technology. Finally, it
within computer vision, driven by its outlines promising directions for future
extensive applications across various research aimed at creating more robust,
domains. This paper presents a fair, and ethically sound gender
comprehensive review of the classification systems.
methodologies employed in gender
classification, tracing the evolution from I. Introduction:
traditional machine learning techniques
that relied on handcrafted features to the The automated determination of
contemporary dominance of deep learning an individual's gender from visual data,
architectures. The study examines the key particularly images, has become a subject
datasets utilized for training and of considerable interest and development
evaluating these models, discusses the within the field of computer vision. This
prevalent preprocessing and feature task, known as gender classification, holds
extraction techniques, and analyzes the fundamental importance due to its
performance improvements achieved, wideranging applications in diverse areas
particularly with convolutional neural such as security and surveillance, targeted
networks. Furthermore, the paper delves marketing and advertising, human-
into the significant challenges that persist, computer interaction, and analysis of social
including issues of bias in datasets and media trends. The ability to accurately and
models, difficulties in handling real-world efficiently classify gender from images has
the potential to enhance user experiences,
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improve the effectiveness of marketing

strategies, and bolster the capabilities of II. Literature Review:
security systems.
A. Traditional Machine Learning in
The increasing availability of vast Gender Classification:
amounts of digital image data, coupled B.
with significant advancements in machine Early research efforts in gender
learning and, more recently, deep learning classification from images primarily focused
techniques, has propelled substantial on extracting hand-crafted features from
progress in automated gender recognition. facial images. These features were
These advancements have moved the field designed to capture specific visual
from relying on manually engineered characteristics believed to be indicative of
features to the automatic learning of gender, such as the shape of facial
complex and discriminative features components (e.g., eyes, nose, mouth), the
directly from image pixels. This evolution color and texture of the skin, and the
has led to significant improvements in the overall facial structure. Alongside facial
accuracy and robustness of gender images, some early studies also explored
classification systems, making them more other biometric traits like gait, iris patterns,
applicable to real-world scenarios. and hand shape as potential indicators of
gender. However, the analysis of facial
This research paper aims to provide images quickly became the most prevalent
a comprehensive and critical review of the approach in this domain. Various machine
current state of the art in gender learning classifiers, including
classification using images. It will examine Support Vector Machines (SVM), KNearest
the historical progression of techniques, Neighbors (KNN), and Adaboost, were then
from traditional machine learning employed to learn the relationship
approaches to the now-dominant deep between these manually engineered
learning methodologies. The paper will features and the binary gender labels (male
analyze the key datasets that have or female).
facilitated the training and evaluation of
these models, discuss the prevalent Among the various hand-crafted
preprocessing and feature extraction feature extraction techniques, Local Binary
techniques employed, and highlight the Patterns (LBP) and Histogram of Oriented
diverse classification algorithms utilized. Gradients (HOG) emerged as particularly
Furthermore, it will delve into the major effective for gender classification [1]. LBP is
challenges that continue to confront the a texture descriptor that characterizes the
field, including the critical issues of bias in local graylevel variations in an image by
both datasets and models, the difficulties in comparing the intensity of each pixel with
achieving robust performance under varied its surrounding neighbors. HOG, on the
real-world image conditions, and the other hand, is a feature descriptor used for
significant ethical considerations that arise object detection that counts occurrences of
from the deployment of this technology. gradient orientations in localized portions
Finally, the paper will outline promising of an image [2]. These features, when
directions for future research, focusing on combined with robust classifiers like SVM,
areas that need further investigation to often yielded promising results in gender
create more reliable, fair, and ethically recognition tasks. For instance, one study
sound gender classification systems. reported a 90% accuracy using LBP on
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normalized images from the FERET progressed, deeper and more sophisticated
database , while another achieved a architectures like VGG , ResNet , Inception ,
94.08% classification rate on the CAS-PEAL and more recently, efficient models like
face database using LBP and SVM. A MobileNet and EfficientNet have been
comparison on the Indian Face Database employed. These architectures vary in their
showed that HOG could outperform LBP in depth, complexity, and the strategies they
terms of accuracy [1]. use to extract and learn features from
images [4].
Despite the progress achieved with A common practice in training deep
traditional machine learning methods, they learning models for gender classification is
often struggled to maintain high accuracy the use of transfer learning. This involves
when applied to images captured under taking a model that has been pre-trained
unconstrained conditions. Real-world on a large and diverse dataset, such as
images frequently exhibit significant ImageNet, and fine-tuning it on a gender
variations in pose, illumination, and classification dataset. Pre-trained models
occlusions (such as glasses, hats, or facial have already learned general visual
hair), which could drastically affect the features that can be beneficial for various
performance of models trained on carefully computer vision tasks, including gender
selected hand-crafted features. The recognition. Fine-tuning allows these
sensitivity of these methods to such models to adapt the learned features to the
environmental factors and variations in specific characteristics of the gender
subject appearance proved to be a major classification task, often resulting in
limitation, paving the way for the improved performance and faster training
development of more robust and adaptable times, especially when the available gender
techniques [3]. classification dataset is relatively small [6].
The adoption of deep learning models,
B. Deep Learning Architectures for particularly CNNs, has led to significant
Gender Classification: improvements in gender classification
accuracy [7]. Many studies have reported
The advent of deep learning, accuracies exceeding 90%, and in some
particularly Convolutional Neural Networks cases, reaching close to or above 99% on
(CNNs), has revolutionized the field of various benchmark datasets. This level of
gender classification using images. CNNs, performance far surpasses what was
inspired by the structure of the human typically achievable with traditional
visual cortex, are capable of automatically machine learning methods, highlighting
learning hierarchical features directly from the power of deep learning in
the raw pixel data of an image. This ability automatically learning discriminative
to learn complex and discriminative features for gender classification [8].
features without the need for manual
engineering has led to significant C. Key Datasets for Training and
breakthroughs in various computer vision Evaluation:
tasks, including gender recognition.Over
the years, numerous CNN architectures The progress in gender
have been explored for gender classification using images has been
classification. Early models like AlexNet and significantly facilitated by the availability of
LeNet-5 demonstrated the potential of several large-scale datasets [9]. These
deep learning for this task. As research datasets provide the necessary data for
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training robust models and for D. Preprocessing and Feature Extraction

benchmarking the performance of Techniques:
different approaches. Some of the most
commonly used datasets include Adience, Before feeding images into gender
IMDB-Wiki, and CelebA. The Adience classification models, several preprocessing
dataset is a collection of approximately steps are typically applied to improve the
26,000 unfiltered face images gathered quality and consistency of the input data.
from Flickr album [10]. It is designed to be One of the initial steps is face detection,
as close as possible to real-world imaging which aims to locate and crop the face
conditions, featuring significant variations region from the image, often using
in pose, appearance, lighting, and noise. algorithms like Viola-Jones or Haar
The dataset includes age and gender labels cascades. Following face detection, face
for over 2,000 subjects, making it a alignment is often performed to normalize
challenging benchmark for evaluating the the pose and scale of the detected face,
robustness of gender classification models typically based on the detection of facial
in uncontrolled environments [11].The landmarks. Images are then usually resized
IMDB-Wiki dataset is one of the largest to a standard resolution to ensure
publicly available datasets for face images consistent input dimensions for the model.
with gender and age labels [12]. It contains Additionally, normalization techniques,
over 500,000 images of celebrities crawled such as brightness normalization or
from IMDb and Wikipedia, along with histogram equalization, may be applied to
metadata such as date of birth, photo mitigate the effects of varying lighting
taken date, gender, and face location. The conditions across different images.
sheer size of this dataset makes it valuable
for training deep learning models with a Table 1. Preprocessing Pipeline
large capacity [12]. Step
Operation Purpose
No.
The CelebA (CelebFaces Attributes) Face Detection Crop face region
dataset comprises over 200,000 celebrity 1
(Viola-Jones) from raw image
face images, each annotated with 40 binary Ensure uniform
attributes, including gender. The images in Resize to
2 input size for the
CelebA cover large pose variations and 224×224
CNN
background clutter, making it suitable for Standardize color
training and testing models for face 3 Convert to RGB
channels
detection and attribute recognition,
including gender [13]. Scale pixels to [0,
Normalize pixel
While these datasets have been 4 1] for faster
values
instrumental in advancing the field, it is convergence
important to note that they are not Random
Data
without limitations, particularly regarding 5 horizontal flip +
Augmentation
potential biases in the representation of rotation (±10°)
different genders, ethnicities, and age
groups. These biases can inadvertently be In terms of feature extraction, as
learned by the models trained on this data, discussed earlier, traditional methods
affecting their fairness and generalizability. relied on handcrafted features like Local
Binary Patterns (LBP) and Histogram of
Oriented Gradients (HOG). These features
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were designed to capture specific visual The final layers of a CNN typically include a
properties of the face. However, with the classification layer, such as a SoftMax layer,
rise of deep learning, the dominant which outputs the probability distribution
approach for feature extraction has shifted over the different gender classes (male and
to Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs). female). Ensemble methods, which
CNNs automatically learn hierarchical combine the predictions of multiple models
representations of the input image through to improve overall accuracy , and hybrid
their convolutional layers, eliminating the approaches that integrate CNNs with other
need for manual feature engineering. The classifiers like SVM have also been explored
features learned by CNNs have proven to as strategies to further enhance the
be highly effective in capturing the complex performance of gender classification
patterns and nuances in facial images that systems.
are indicative of gender.
III. Significance of the Findings:

Table 2. Training Hyperparameters The results compiled from various

studies highlight the significant
Hyperparameter Value
advancements in gender classification
Learning Rate 0.0001 accuracy, particularly with the transition
from traditional machine learning
Batch Size 32 techniques to deep learning
methodologies. The consistently high
Number of Epochs 25 accuracy rates achieved by CNN-based
models on benchmark datasets like
Optimizer Adam Adience, IMDB-Wiki, and CelebA
demonstrate their superior capability in
Dropout Rate 0.5 learning complex and discriminative
features from facial images. This progress
E. Classification Algorithms: underscores the effectiveness of leveraging
deep neural networks for this challenging
Various classification algorithms computer vision task.
have been employed in conjunction with
The performance of gender
the extracted features to perform gender
classification models is significantly
recognition. In traditional machine learning
influenced by factors such as the size and
approaches, Support Vector Machines
diversity of the training data. Larger and
(SVM) were a popular choice due to their
more diverse datasets generally enable
effectiveness in high-dimensional spaces
models to learn more robust and
and their ability to handle complex decision
generalizable features, leading to higher
boundaries. Other algorithms like Random
accuracy on unseen data and in real-world
Forest, known for its robustness and ability
scenarios. The availability of largescale
to handle large datasets , and Adaboost, an
datasets like IMDB-Wiki and CelebA has
adaptive boosting algorithm that combines
been crucial in training high-performing
multiple weak classifiers into a strong one ,
deep learning models. Furthermore, the
were also frequently used.
choice of model architecture plays a vital
role, with advancements in CNN design
In the context of deep learning,
CNNs often serve as end-to-end classifiers.
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leading to improved feature extraction and Variations in head pose,

classification capabilities. illumination conditions, the presence of
occlusions such as masks or glasses, and
The widespread use of transfer the diversity of facial expressions can
learning has also significantly contributed significantly impact the performance of
to the progress in gender classification. By even the most advanced models. Models
leveraging the knowledge acquired by trained on datasets with limited variability
models pre-trained on massive general- may not generalize well to the complexities
purpose image datasets, researchers can of real-world scenarios, leading to a drop in
achieve better performance and faster accuracy.
training times on gender classification
tasks, even with limited taskspecific data. Furthermore, the issue of cross-
dataset generalization remains a significant
IV. Challenges in Gender Classification: hurdle. A model that achieves high
accuracy on one specific dataset may not
Despite the remarkable progress, perform as well when applied to images
several challenges continue to hinder the from a different dataset. This can be due to
development of truly robust and reliable differences in the way the images were
gender classification systems. One of the captured, the demographic distribution of
most significant challenges is the issue of the subjects, the types of variations
bias in both the datasets used for training present, and even the annotation practices
and the models themselves. Studies have used to label the data. The lack of robust
shown that gender classification models generalization across different datasets
often exhibit disparities in performance limits the practical applicability of gender
across different demographic groups, with classification models in real-world systems
lower accuracy rates observed for women, where the input data may come from
individuals with darker skin tones, and diverse and unseen sources.
transgender or non-binary individuals. The
lack of adequate representation of V. Ethical Considerations of Gender
nonbinary and transgender individuals in Recognition:
many commonly used datasets further
exacerbates this problem. Models trained The development and deployment
on biased data can inadvertently learn and of gender classification technology raise
perpetuate societal stereotypes, leading to significant ethical concerns that must be
unfair or inaccurate predictions for certain carefully considered [13]. These concerns
groups. The binary nature of gender include the potential for privacy violations
classification in many systems also fails to through the collection and analysis of facial
account for the complexity and fluidity of images, the risk of misuse in surveillance
gender identity. and security applications leading to biased
profiling, and the reinforcement of harmful
Another persistent challenge is the gender stereotypes [14]. A particularly
ability of gender classifiers to perform critical ethical issue is the discriminatory
accurately under the wide range of impact on marginalized groups, especially
variations encountered in real-world transgender and non-binary individuals,
images. who are often misclassified by systems
trained on binary gender categories.
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The "black box" nature of many various applications necessitate careful

deep learning models makes it challenging consideration and the development of
to understand their decision-making responsible guidelines.
processes, which is a significant
impediment to addressing bias and Future research efforts should focus
ensuring fairness [15]. The lack of on addressing these remaining challenges
transparency can obscure the reasons to create more reliable, fair, and ethical
behind misclassifications and make it gender classification systems. This includes
difficult to identify and mitigate biases developing more sophisticated models that
embedded in the model or the training are invariant to variations in pose,
data. Consequently, there is a growing illumination, and occlusion. A significant
recognition of the need for transparency area of focus should be on investigating
and interpretability in gender classification and implementing methods for mitigating
models. Research is ongoing to develop bias in datasets and models to ensure
techniques that can provide insights into equitable performance across all
how these models arrive at their demographic groups, potentially including
predictions, such as visualizing the regions the development of models capable of
of the image that are most influential in the handling non-binary gender identities.
classification process. Addressing these Exploring the use of multi-modal data, such
ethical considerations is crucial for the as combining facial images with audio or
responsible development and deployment textual information, could potentially lead
of gender recognition technology in various to further improvements in accuracy and
applications. robustness. The development and
application of advanced interpretability
VI. Conclusion and Future Research techniques are crucial for gaining a deeper
Directions: understanding of the decision-making
This paper has provided a processes of these models, which can aid in
comprehensive review of the research identifying and mitigating biases. Finally,
landscape in gender classification using continued research into the ethical
images. The field has witnessed remarkable implications and societal impact of gender
advancements, particularly with the rise of recognition technology is essential for
deep learning architectures, especially ensuring its responsible development and
Convolutional Neural Networks, which have deployment , along with the creation of
significantly improved the accuracy and more inclusive and representative datasets
robustness of automated gender that accurately reflect the diversity of
recognition systems. However, despite this human gender identities and expressions.
progress, several critical challenges remain.
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