1. GENDER AND SPACE
-AN ASSIGNMENT ON ARCHITECTURE AND CRITICAL THEORY

2. BY MANJULA INIAN
II YEAR M.ARCH (P.T)
INTRODUCTION:
This essay is neither rational nor empirical, but is more phenomenal,
in the sense; it is my experience and view on „gender & space‟. As the
saying goes, „men are from Mars and women are from Venus‟ and they live
together in the earth. Unfortunately many spaces on the earth are still
„Mars‟ spaces leaving little space of „Venus‟ people. Before we get into the
issue of providing segregated spaces for women, merits and demerits, let
us see the history and traditions; whether we really need to segregate
spaces for gender; social, economical and political women spaces and
current social issues.
HISTORY & TRADITION:
Traditional architectural forms throughout the world frequently
demonstrate clearly differentiated spaces for the sexes, reflecting an
acknowledgement of, and response to what are perceived as women's and
men's differing roles, needs and natures in society. The spatial
arrangements of the Warlpiri aboriginal people in Australia - Jilimi- for
single women, jangkayi – for single men, yupukarra- for family, are one of
such examples. Some of Indian tribes still practice these kind of
segregating spaces for gender tradition even now.
A traditional South Indian house clearly identifies women and men
spaces with two courtyards exclusively earmarked for each of them.
Separate ladies rooms were built to cope up with women‟s biological
needs.
WOMEN SPACES- PHYSICAL:
There is a growing worldwide trend for women-only spaces on trains,
beaches and in hotels. There are exclusive trains for women in Bombay.
Women taxi drivers of Bombay, women auto drivers of Chennai tend to
offer exclusive service to women. These spaces/services certainly offer the
liberty of being women by themselves. How many of us haven‟t enjoyed the

3. travel in ladies cabin of sub-urban trains of Chennai- the mobile fancy item
vendors, mobile vegetable and snack vendors, etc. I feel women, especially
the regular commuters of these trains; have a world of their own, enjoying
the exclusiveness to the fullest level. We would commonly see ladies
making flower strands, engaging themselves with some kind of handwork.
For some women, exclusive women areas can be a way to expand
movement in public spaces, rather than limit it. A women-only taxi service
in Bombay, for example, has been touted as giving women more travel
options, while, around the globe, women-only gyms provide a welcome
space for religious women who wouldn‟t otherwise be able to work
out.(Why only pink is used to represent women spaces?)
A very good example of the advantage of segregated women spaces
is the exclusively ladies cabin in Delhi Metro. A city which had been quite
unfriendly to women all these days, has changed drastically with the
connectivity of places by Delhi Metro which facilitates women commuters a
much safe travel and especially the front all-women cabin offers a much
comfortable space.
But sometimes, even in the event of clear demarcation of „women
spaces‟, there is always an encroachment into these spaces – like
accidently(curiously?!) a man getting into a ladies special bus or ladies
cabin in train, an usage of ladies toilets by men in public spaces in vein
hours of office time( as they are more cleaner).
On the other hand we do find unisex spaces, like parlours, gyms etc,
which are supposed to be the signs of „modern society‟ where both genders
share common spaces.
WOMEN SPACES - MERITS AND DEMERITS:
On the outset, although these women spaces offer privacy, security
and the idea of a safe space is compelling, which is often about “protecting”
women, the idea of segregation raises questions of just how equal the
sexes are if women‟s safety relies on us being separated. According to an
article in The Hindu by Jessie Valenti, „After all, shouldn‟t we be targeting
the gropers and harassers? The onus should be on men to stop harassing
women, not on women to escape them.’
Betsy Eudey, director of gender studies at California State University,
says that while some single-gender environments could be beneficial, she
finds that “segregated spaces only enhance division by gender and prevent

4. the necessary actions needed to make public spaces safe and welcoming
to all.” Not all feminists are so sceptical though. American writer Katha
Pollitt says she doesn‟t think that the rise of women-only spaces will excuse
society from confronting harassment and violence. Instead, she believes
they simply offer a small respite for women in a male-dominated world.
Not all women-only spaces are mired in paternalism. Girls‟ schools,
for example, are touted as places where pupils have the confidence to
speak more openly than they would in a mixed class. Women-only
networking events are gaining popularity in cities from New York to London.
The difference between these spaces and designated “no harassment”
zones, however, is that all-girl schools and networking are positively
supporting women and their endeavours rather than hiding women behind
closed (or sliding) doors.
WOMEN SPACES – SOCIAL,ECONOMICAL AND POLITICAL:
Apart from public spaces, there is a growing tendency of women to
have more personal space than what they had earlier and there seems to
be no compromise in obtaining the same. Having taken for granted for so
many centuries, contemporary women insist on their own personal space
and no more shared spaces like in-laws houses, etc. Society is under
transition. The trend of nuclear families is quite common where the
husband and wife are equal partners of the space- what I mean by space is
just not physical, it includes economical and social spaces and the woman
has equal say on everything and any kind of disturbance to this set up
leads to the disturbance in the family set up. Furthermore, „living together‟ -
a much convenient arrangement of individual spaces in couples provides a
non compromising spatial structure to both genders. (I am not going into
the merits and demerits) There is a growing tendency of single women in
the society, which is a serious concern for the so-called tradition up-
keepers of the society as this is the direct indication of women insisting on
the non-compromise of their personal spaces.
And there is still not much welcoming social space of female child in
the society with the rampant female foeticide and infanticide and decrease
in sex ratio which might lead to greater social disaster.
The spaces provided for women in media especially in movies and in
other visual media are highly misinterpreted version of what men think
about women and what men want out of women. It is never the actual

5. portray of woman with her sensualities. Women lyrists and women directors
make much better representation of women than their counterparts.
An attempt to carve a justifiable administrative and governing space
for women in Indian parliament is going on for years together and yet to
take off. It is proven that women bestowed with proper social and political
space, aid to the up-lift of the society-example: women Sarpanchs or
village heads of many Indian villages.
Equations are changing in the society. Today single women are not
treated as bad as the earlier times. Renting a house by single women used
to a social taboo earlier, today it is not so difficult. Society has started
accepting women with their personal space unhindered by men, although
there are some sporadic incidents of violence by the affected men against
these single women. Society is waking up with issues of handling men who
are not used to this kind of unpampered blunt situation where women with
their own choice, can handle their life without much hassle.
CONCLUSION:
As the tug of war goes on, in scooping out spaces for each gender in
the society, an ideal society would be nothing, but giving right and
adequate space and appropriate identity for its entire people irrespective of
the gender without any discrimination, and a well balanced platform for
everyone to have an even play.

6. References:
1.http://www.gendersite.org/
2. ‘The Hindu’ article by Jessica Valenti
3. Cartoon on Women’s Bill by Surendra-THE HINDU