Beyond Walls: Unveiling Gendered Spaces in Built Environments

Beyond Walls: Unveiling Gendered Spaces in Built Environments

Tanya, D’souza, Adayah Okung, Dara-Shae Tabry-Salinas, and Brenna Winters

ARCH 5006: Architectural Theory

Maxime Leblanc

November 24th 2023

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Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference by Cordelia Fine is a complex discussion that focuses on the impact society has on the conceived gender stereotypes we see today. In this text, Fine, an Australian writer and a professor of History and Philosophy of Science, criticizes the idea that differences between men and women are strictly hard-wired. Instead, she aims to prove that these gender differences result from preconceived societal influences. She does this by breaking the book down into three main parts.

The first part, “'Half-Changed World,' Half-Changed Minds," focuses on dissecting the different types of gender stereotypes in work and home environments. To her, society enables this gender hierarchy in all spheres of life. The second part is titled “Neurosexism,” a term coined by Fine that describes the use of Neuroscience as a way to justify the prominent old-fashioned gender stereotypes by enabling a bias between the sexes.1 Within this part, Fine critiques the field of Neuroscience and the heavy presence of biases and inaccuracies within the scientific world. The final part, “Recycling Gender,” focuses on the impact of these described stereotypes on children's development. Due to ‌preconceived ideas all around us, ‌a stereotype learning cycle is created that continues from generation to generation. Fine argues that kids will always be aware of gender roles and stereotypes, even before birth, as we live in a society-centered world.

Throughout her book, Fine uses compelling arguments and research to prove her point that gendered stereotypes were constructed by society and not influenced by any biological aspects. After reading this book, we wondered how these theories and themes could be applied to ‌architecture. This essay explores the foundational assumptions of gendered spaces, discusses the design aspects within the public, private, and public-private spheres, and looks to the future of these gendered spaces. Through this, it aims to showcase how the design of gendered spaces is

1

Cordelia Fine, Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2010), 174.

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intricately shaped by societal norms, cultural assumptions, and historical constructs to reflect the prevalent gender stereotypes, behaviours and roles of society.

The Historical Roots of Gender in Architecture The history of gender in architecture reflects a persistent narrative of relentless masculinity, evident in the content and display of architectural history.2 Much like its cousin, art history, the origins of architectural history trace back to connoisseurship in which works of art were attributed to artists through the stylistic characteristics of their pieces.3 This then led to an interest in the careers of these artists and the patrons who collected their work.4 Architectural history follows in this respect as it also depends on a catalogue of buildings, their architects, and the clients who commissioned or purchased them. So, it should be no surprise that historical documentation features predominantly male architects, given that they and the clientele were solely of one sex. Even with ‌architectural motifs often portraying a woman, particularly in French eighteenth-century architecture, there is no representation of a female presence in historical architectural discourse.5 The representation of the female presence found symbolically in the Ionic and Corinthian orders claims to represent women and girls; however, of course, this symbolism would not authentically represent women in architecture as they were not involved.6 Besides being represented in structures, women's presence in architectural history has had almost no involvement. There is no significant evidence of their contributions; if there was, it was not well documented. The involvement of women in architecture only becomes visible when examining female clients. Katherine Briconnet (1494-1526) is the earliest known site manager, 2

Louise Durning, Richard Wrigley and Helen Hills, “Architecture as a Metaphor for the Body,” essay, in Gender and Architecture (Chichester: J. Wiley & Sons, 2000), 67–112.

3 Durning, Wrigley and Hills, “Architecture as a Metaphor for the Body,” 67–112.

4 Durning, Wrigley and Hills, “Architecture as a Metaphor for the Body,” 67–112.

5 Durning, Wrigley and Hills, “Architecture as a Metaphor for the Body,” 67–112.

6 Durning, Wrigley and Hills, “Architecture as a Metaphor for the Body,” 67–112.

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and while that may not speak volumes, women at the time were excluded from being educated in the profession.7 Within this period, the construction of a project was divided between three authorities: the client, the master of the craft, and the building administrator.8 Briconnet made a minor change to the function of the stairwell as the client, signifying a breakthrough in women's contribution to the architecture profession.9 Still facing limitations, opportunities such as these only fell to the few privileged women during that century and continued. Education within the profession still belonged to ‌men, and it wouldn't be until the mid-19th century that women would even get the opportunity to be trained.10 In 1855, Polytechnikum allowed women to study architecture theory and practice at their school in Zurich, Switzerland.11 However, while this was a pivotal point in the profession, only privileged women with the required education could attend. It was not until the civil rights movement of the late 19th and 20th centuries that more opportunities for women arose to join architecture and later gain recognition for their work in the field, shaping the trajectory of female practitioners.12 Despite these historical challenges, the contemporary landscape sees a rising number of women studying, working, and teaching architecture, marking progress in achieving gender parity within the field.

Because I’m a ___ I must be ___.

The body plays a huge role in architecture, mutilating and tearing it apart for its proportions to derive a space.13 However, the proportional correspondence and the body's

Ursula Schwitalla, Women in Architecture: Past, Present, and Future (Berlin: Hatje Cantz, 2021), 11- 28.

Schwitalla, Women in Architecture: Past, Present, and Future, 11- 28.

9 Schwitalla, Women in Architecture: Past, Present, and Future, 11- 28.

10 Schwitalla, Women in Architecture: Past, Present, and Future, 11- 28.

11 Schwitalla, Women in Architecture: Past, Present, and Future, 11- 28.

12 Franca Trubiano, Ramona Adlakha, and Ramune Bartuskaite, Women [Re] Build: Stories, Polemics, Futures (San Francisco: Applied Research and Design Publishing, an imprint of ORO editions, 2019), 42-49 13 David Theodore. “Turning Architecture Upside-down: From Inigo Jones To Phenomenology.”(Log, no. 42 2018): 116–26.

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contents were used, taking the idea that its cavities and entrances create functionality.14 This concept is then projected onto a structure's floor plan, creating the necessities and needs of the space, much like that of the organs in a body. It is important to note that these proportions, derived from Filarete and other Renaissance theorists, based the scale on the notion of the perfect body, that of the male.15 Unsurprisingly, with the lack of female discourse in architectural history, the “body” has depended on the male ephebe.16 The issues with proportioning how one interacts with the space based on one type of individual create discomfort for those who do not fit that typology. A physical and psychological gender difference is based on a system meant to conform to a singular body type.17 While there may not inherently be any difference in males and females psychologically, the force of a socio-cultural environment where individuals are meant to conform and be perceived a certain way has caused spaces to be gendered.

Within early modern Europe, convents and places of worship provided a rich terrain for unraveling the intricate relationship between gender and architecture. These spaces were designed and constructed for female patrons with a primary focus on devotion to God and were one of the only spaces, besides the home, that deliberately separated them from men.18 However, while this space was devoid of men, it did not make it inherently feminine. Gender politics significantly influenced the organizational use of conventional space, controlling visitors' access and creating division within the convent for visitors.19 Despite their significant presence within the city, the space was designed to be turned away from the public realm, employing slits of

14

Theodore. “Turning Architecture Upside-down,” 116–26.

Theodore. “Turning Architecture Upside-down,” 116–26.

16 Anthony Vidler. “The Building in Pain: The Body and Architecture in Post-ModernCulture.”AA Files, no. 19 (1990): 3–10 17 Naomi Ellemers. "Gender stereotypes." Annual review of psychology 69 (2018): 275-298.

18 Louise Durning and Richard Wrigley, “Woman on Top,” essay, in Gender and Architecture (Chichester: J. Wiley & Sons, 2000), 45–66.

19 Durning and Wrigley, “Woman on Top,” essay, in Gender and Architecture, 45–66.

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windows that allowed nuns to observe without being observed.20 This small design choice creates a motif that parallels ‌the purpose of the habit and the notion of covering the female form as a show of modesty. This shows that anything inherently feminine was not welcomed in the public realm either due to fear or disgust, “…if the female gaze was dangerous, so was the female body.”21 Creating this division of an inherently gendered space does not necessarily mean it is a reflection of it; instead, it reflects the gender ideologies that are created by the socio-cultural environment in which it resides.

When examining the architectural landscape of early seventeenth-century England, where architectural classicism was born, this study shows how socio-cultural values form “gendered” spaces. Using language and rhetoric creates an intersectionality of how a masculine discourse can influence architectural forms. Inigo Jones stands as a key figure promoting his ideologies of masculinity being the end-all.22 Jones’s invocation of a dichotomy between feminine and masculine attributes created a division of public and private spaces and a further gender division.23 Attributing masculine elements to public spaces was something he was adamant about, using classicism to define this. Jones saw classicism as a masculine style of architecture as it served as the architectural embodiment of humanist educational ideals.24 These ideals of historical knowledge and the Latin language's structure are both seen as masculine.25 The relationship between classicism and masculine rhetoric and its consistent use in an architectural form encompassing most of the public realm deemed that such a space was not meant for

Durning and Wrigley, “Woman on Top,” 45–66.

Durning, Wrigley and Hills, “Architecture as a Metaphor for the Body,” 67–112 22 Louise Durning, Richard Wrigley, and Christy Anderson, “A Gravity in Public Places: Inigo Jones and Classical Architecture,” essay, in Gender and Architecture (Chichester: J. Wiley & Sons, 2000), 7–28.

23 Durning, Wrigley, and Anderson, “A Gravity in Public Place,” 7–28.

24 Durning, Wrigley, and Anderson, “A Gravity in Public Place,” 7–28.

25 Louise Durning, Richard Wrigley, and Christy Anderson, “A Gravity in Public Places: Inigo Jones and Classical Architecture”, 7–28.

20

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women. This was only reinforced by gender stereotypes and ideologies pushing the boundaries and assumptions that differ between men and women.

Gendered Spaces in the Public Realm Almost every city in the world has deeply ingrained patriarchal structures in its urban fabric and public realm. The public realm relates to all spaces that are accessible by the general public, including urban parks, streets, public transportation, and some buildings. The statues of “founding fathers” and architectural landmarks around the city often provide the most direct evidence of a city’s historic dominance of wealthy white male-governed cities. With the exclusion of other demographics, such as women, the design and planning of these cities were done by one general group, for that group: white cis-gendered males.26 While past urban planners may have assumed they were designing cities with no gender in mind or relatively gender-neutral cities, the exclusion of various perspectives of how individuals move through a city enables the lack of diversity and inclusion needed in order to provide welcoming and inclusive spaces for all.27 Urban Fabric The idea of gendered spaces within the outdoor environment is exhibited when looking at the comfortability of varying groups. The majority of women will limit or avoid going to specific places in a city, as well as public spaces, especially at night, due to unsafe feelings within the urban space.28 With the city prominently designed by men with features that can cater to men, forms of public transport such as buses, subways, trains, and areas like low-lit parks or alleys 26

Laura Margarita Alvarez Martinez, “Re-Thinking Urban Space Through An Intersectional Design Strategy. The Case of Fem*kutschi” (thesis, 2021), 3.

27 Martinez, “ “Re-Thinking Urban Space Through An Intersectional Design Strategy. The Case of Fem*kutschi”, 3.

28 Jess Berry et al., Contentious Cities Design and the Gendered Production of Space (London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2021), 39.

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create feelings of unease for women. With the societal phenomenon of sexual harassment, something prevalent within the urban scope, most women in their lifetime will either experience harassment by men on the streets or hear of others experiencing some level. These experiences based on social norms frame women's minds on how to move around a city safely and impact how they use these public spaces, and in some cases, don’t.29 In a world where women have to be on alert for their own safety, the implementation of better lighting in dark open areas, proper sheltering of transportation stops, and adequate security measures would positively impact the way women feel within public spaces and potentially encourage more use of them. Another example of how streets are gendered spaces is the sidewalks themselves. Sidewalks around cities are not always well maintained, making them pretty uneven and in poor condition. This, combined with poor design or the absence of ramps on sidewalk curbs, results in issues with accessibility and movement for people with disabilities and women with children and strollers.

The absence of seating areas additionally reinforces ‌gender inequality within societal views as women carrying children or using strollers struggle to move through these urban spaces as they have no place to pause or rest. The embedded gender biases within society are heavily seen within the urban environment, emphasizing them as being more suitable for one gender over the other.

Public Washrooms Inclusive Urban Design: Public Toilets is the first book that addresses toilets as an essential part of urban design and their ability to increase the viability of cities.30 However, it also highlights how public washroom design reflects the traditional view of two set gender norms.

Most male washrooms will have several toilet stalls and urinals, while a similarly sized or 29

Berry et al., Contentious Cities Design and the Gendered Production of Space, 40.

Olga Gershenson and Barbara Penner, Ladies and Gents: Public Toilets and Gender (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2009),49.

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smaller space is allocated for women's washrooms.31 While not all, many public restrooms will have a lower-mounted urinal in the male washrooms, allowing boys to use the washroom without their father's help. On the other hand, female washrooms aren’t usually the same for girls to use, so mothers will have to lift their children to reach the toilet, which is not always the most straightforward task.32 This simple design leads to younger boys becoming more independent while girls are forced to feel dependent on others for simple tasks.33 The cleanliness of these spaces further pushes the idea of what is stereotypically appropriate for each sex. By addressing the limitations of traditional gendered washrooms, we can challenge these notions and push to provide safe and accessible sanitary spaces for all, not just those who fit neatly into these two categories: male and female.

Gendered Spaces in the Private Realm The private realm relates to spaces owned by specific individuals, such as private residences. The study of gendered spaces within these offers an intriguing look at how design, spatial organization, and functionality influence establishing and reinforcing gender norms and roles within domestic environments. The gendering of homes is a complex interplay of historical, cultural, and social influences that manifest in the physical spaces we inhabit.

Since the start of time, women have been considered the caretakers of a house, while a male is usually the breadwinner. The Victorian era “gave rise to female domesticity”.34 Victorian wives and mothers were confined to the domestic home life where they took care of everything

31

Gershenson and Penner, Ladies and Gents: Public Toilets and Gender, 49.

Kathryn H. Anthony, Defined by Design: The Surprising Power of Hidden Gender, Age, and Body Bias in Everyday Products and Places (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2017), 122.

33 Anthony, Defined by Design: The Surprising Power of Hidden Gender, Age, and Body Bias in Everyday Products and Places, 33.

34 Leslie Kanes Weisman, Discrimination by Design: A Feminist Critique of the Man-Made Environment (Urbana: University of Illinois, 1994), 87.

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around the house, including the children and her husband, while the husband came home from work to relax and be the ruler of the household.35 This trend of women being the sole caretakers continues to this day as most women will take on the job of caring for children and the house while also maintaining a job. Up until 1934, most of the residential designs put kitchens in a separate room of the house to be hidden away from the public eye.36 Frank Lloyd Wright designed the Malcolm Willey House in Minneapolis, which included the kitchen in cohesion with other common areas in the house, such as the living and dining room, so that mothers or wives did not have to be isolated away from the rest of the house and so that they could observe the children as they prepared meals.37 Wright later proposed a series of homes that featured kitchen spaces as part of the living area called Usonian Houses with the same intent of making the housewife a part of the social and family life, but this evolution continues to view the kitchen as a significant feminine space.38 The evolution of kitchens in housing floor plans and a housing crisis in Europe further led to the minimisation of homes.39 The new house plan included only the minimum number of rooms needed, eliminating male spaces such as studies, smoking rooms, and game rooms and female-gendered rooms such as sewing rooms and boudoirs, giving the idea that homes are no place for gendered spaces.40 On the contrary, modern homes still tend to have gendered spaces, as most garages or sheds will become a “man-cave” or a workshop, while women may have a

35

Weisman, Discrimination by Design: A Feminist Critique of the Man-Made Environment, 87.

Weisman, Discrimination by Design, 87.

37 Weisman, Discrimination by Design, 92.

38 Ana Moreira and Hugo Farias, “Gendered Spaces at Home: Feminine and Masculine Traits in Domestic Interiors,” International Journal of Social Science Studies 10, no. 6 (November 18, 2022): 97, https://doi.org/10.11114/ijsss.v10i6.5786.

39 Moreira and Farias, “Gendered Spaces at Home: Feminine and Masculine Traits in Domestic Interiors,” International Journal of Social Science Studies, 99.

40 Moreira and Farias, “Gendered Spaces at Home: Feminine and Masculine Traits in Domestic Interiors,” International Journal of Social Science Studies, 99.

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dressing-up area in the shared bedroom. Nurseries or playrooms, while some are gender neutral, most will have gender coded through the design themes, colours, and toys used in the space.

While most modern homes have attempted to simply exclude gendered rooms within a home, in Eileen Gray's design of her home, E.1027, she chose to honour a commonly known female space; the boudoir.41 The boudoir was a space that used to be private, tucked away, and was seen as a sexualized space for women, the most public space where visitors come in, are greeted, and entertained, but one can also relax in the intimate space.42 This home design example portrays the idea that the female spaces in older homes can become the main focus of a home, blurring this notion of gendered space.

Gendered Spaces in the Public-Private Realm The exploration of public and private allows for acknowledging gendered spaces that directly reflect ‌societal norms, cultural expectations, and historical implications. With it being the meeting of the public realm, typically male-oriented spaces, and the private, historically designed with femininity in mind, public-private spaces provide an interesting perspective into the blurring of the traditional urban fabric. By exploring the public-private context, we can see the ways in which architecture and design are deeply rooted within gender roles and the preconceived notions of society, as “Both space and institutions are socially constructed.”43 Educational Institutions In the sense of educational institutions, social-based gendered spaces play an integral role in the institution's structure and in shaping the learning environment. Historically speaking,

41

Katarina Bonnevier. “A Queer Analysis of Eileen Gray’s E.1027.” In Negotiating Domesticity, edited by Hilde Heynen and Gülsüm Baydar. Routledge, 2005, 166.

42 Bonnevier. “A Queer Analysis of Eileen Gray’s E.1027.”, 166.

43 Daphne Spain, “Gendered Spaces and Women’s Status,” Sociological Theory 11, no. 2 (University of North Carolina Press, 2000, July 1993): 137–51, https://doi.org/10.2307/202139, 141.

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women were not part of the original framework of the education system, as why would they need an education if their sphere was that of the home?44 This provided the foundation for schools to be gendered spaces. When they were finally allowed to participate in an academic setting, the girls were often put in different classrooms or specific sides of the room to learn feminine curriculums, such as reading, sewing, and cooking.45 These varying curriculums led to gaps in learning and further pushed the social idea that women are bad at math and sciences. Today, while women are just as likely as men to attend post-secondary education, ‌gendered stereotypes result in lower levels of attainment within the system.46 Alexander Astin conducted studies that focused on the impacts of same-sex colleges, and his findings showed that female students at same-sex colleges are more likely to be involved in political leadership positions, have higher aspirations, and are more likely to graduate compared to those at co-ed institutions.47 Today, gender segregation additionally persists in specific male vs female-dominated fields like engineering and nursing and through clubs like frats and sororities.48 It is through the history of educational institutions and the continuation of gender stereotypes that we see gendered classrooms and campuses. Understanding and reshaping these spaces is crucial to fostering empowering learning environments for all.

Workplace Workplaces serve as a basis for societal perceptions and views on gender and the creation of gendered spaces. This gender segregation is apparent in both ‌occupation fields and the workplace design itself. For women, professions that reflect the domestic sphere and caretaker roles, such as teaching and nursing, are deemed more acceptable within society.49 This is similar 44

Spain, “Gendered Spaces and Women’s Status,” Sociological Theory, 145.

Spain, “Gendered Spaces and Women’s Status,” Sociological Theory, 149.

46 Spain, “Gendered Spaces and Women’s Status,” Sociological Theory, 164.

47 Spain, “Gendered Spaces and Women’s Status,” Sociological Theory, 166.

48 Spain, “Gendered Spaces and Women’s Status,” Sociological Theory, 145.

49 Spain, “Gendered Spaces and Women’s Status,” Sociological Theory, 145.

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to the idea that men are the architects and women are the interior designers.50 One of the main reasons behind occupational segregation is the continuation of ideologies that women belong within the home.51 These notions additionally lead to the undervaluation and underpaying of professions or workers in a feminine field, causing an unequal shift of value within the workplace. Due to this, some women take on more masculine jobs to get better pay compared to “women’s work.”52 This emergence of women in male-dominated fields has some challenges regarding gendered spaces and harassment. Women within these fields may be subjected to traditional stereotypes and biases that result in them being seen as less than men and that their “female knowledge” and contributions are undervalued compared to their male counterparts.53 Within a historical and contemporary lens, women often take on the more feminine roles, such as reception or assistants while men are the executives and CEOs. This additionally leads to challenges within female promotions and moving into leadership roles. When looking at workplace gender segregation in architecture, this professional inequality is further exhibited in connection with these role biases. In addition to a continuing pay gap, women, on average, received 20-50% less office space than men.54 When looking at the John Hancock building in Boston, this is evident as a male vice president has over 400 square metres of space while the average female clerk has 55.55 The notion of light within built environments supports this idea of workplaces being gendered as natural light is typically connected to the worth and success of an individual.56 For example, the female clerks would typically work within the interior 50

Maxime Leblanc, “Bodies” ARCH 5006: Architectural Theory (Class Lecture, Laurentian University, Sudbury, ON, September 27, 2023).

51 Marion Roberts, Living in a Man-Made World: Gender Assumptions in Modern Housing Design (London; New York: Routledge, 1991), 8.

52 Spain, “Gendered Spaces and Women’s Status,” Sociological Theory, 147.

53 Spain, “Gendered Spaces and Women’s Status,” Sociological Theory, 140.

54 Leslie Kanes Weisman, Discrimination by Design: A Feminist Critique of the Man-Made Environment (Urbana: University of Illinois, 1994), 38.

55 Weisman, Discrimination by Design, 38.

56 Weisman, Discrimination by Design, 38.

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fluorescent-lit spaces while the male executives would be in exterior offices, allowing for natural light.57 While women have been part of the workforce for years, there are still societal-based inequalities through the inclusiveness of occupations, potential harassment, and the showing of the worth of an individual as expressed through design. In recognizing and reshaping these work-gendered spaces, we look to a more inclusive future that focuses on an individual's contributions instead of the predetermined societal prejudices.

Religious Spaces The gendering of spaces within a religious perspective typically includes reinforcing society-based gender stereotypes, behaviour, and roles. This is through design segregation and the cementation of gender biases prevalent within specific religious communities. While each religion varies in its beliefs, a commonality among many of them is the use of a sacred building as a gendered space, which emphasizes the concept of males as the dominant sex. Within Orthodox Churches, women are allowed to enter the sacred space and participate within the church community only when they are not in their menstruation cycle, as this is deemed unclean.58 Implementing the Mikveh, a traditional Jewish ritual bath, is another form of a religious gender space. By Jewish law, women must immerse themselves within the Mikveh after their menstruation cycles or childbirth in order to purify themselves.59 These spaces will contain separated entrances, dressing rooms, and bathing areas for males and females, embodying the ideas of these gendered norms.60 The segregation is not solely a physical 57

Weisman, Discrimination by Design, 38.

Mona Mirzaie, Stella Murray, and Olivia Shotyk, “Gender and Religion: A Closer Look at Inequality in Sacred Architecture,” Ethics in the Built Environment, November 26, 2019, https://sites.psu.edu/visionaryarchitecture/2019/11/26/gender-and-religion-a-closer-look-at-inequality-in-sacred-arch itecture/.

59 Beth Wenger, “Mikveh,” Jewish Women’s Archive, June 23, 2021, https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/mikveh#:~:text=The%20mikveh%20is%20a%20ritual,%2C%20an%20ocean%2 C%20or%20rain.

60 Wenger, “Mikveh,” 2021.

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separation but reflects ‌societal expectations about appropriate gender interactions. The idea of separation through design within religious spaces is additionally found within Mosques. Within the Islamic religion, there is a tradition of separating ‌worship areas for each sex due to the female role of childbearing and the need to control the men’s lustful desires,61 with it commonly meaning both physical and visual segregation.62 One case study of this is the 2007 Dogramacizade Mosque in Ankara, which houses a smaller prayer space for women on a mezzanine, and with the implementation of lattices, the women are out of the line of sight from the men in the main hall.63 The notion of these sacred spaces designed specifically for the different genders based on social ideas instead of any biological instances is further proven through the requirement of multiple entrances. The male mosque-goers are able to utilize the main door at the front, however, all the females must enter from a side door.64 Religious spaces provide communities with a place of worship, a pillar within a community, and enable the attainment of empowerment through religious, cultural, and societal knowledge. However, female participation in these practices and customs is sometimes solely dependent on the idea of gender segregation leading to the realization that the significance of a woman’s religious devotion is less than that of men.

61

Line Nyhagen, “Mosques as Gendered Spaces: The Complexity of Women’s Compliance with, and Resistance to, Dominant Gender Norms, and the Importance of Male Allies,” Religions 10, no. 5 (May 14, 2019): 321, https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10050321.

62 Mona Mirzaie, Stella Murray, and Olivia Shotyk, “Gender and Religion: A Closer Look at Inequality in Sacred Architecture,” Ethics in the Built Environment, November 26, 2019, https://sites.psu.edu/visionaryarchitecture/2019/11/26/gender-and-religion-a-closer-look-at-inequality-in-sacred-arch itecture/.

63 Mirzaie, Murray, and Shotyk, “Gender and Religion,” 2019.

64 Mirzaie, Murray, and Shotyk, “Gender and Religion,” 2019.

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Connection with Delusions of Gender According to the discussions in the essays, societal influences, assumptions, and norms shape gendered spaces. This is coherent with Fines' conclusions in her book Delusions of Gender, in which she highlights how gender roles and stereotypes in homes, schools, and offices are based on societal expectations. Some gendered spaces serve their purpose effectively, but others, such as workplaces or abortion clinics, can create an adverse environment for women.

The future of gender in architecture is realizing that architecture supports fixed, immutable notions of gender and sexuality through programming, space, and function. After recognizing this problem, the next step is the creation of a queer approach to design that challenges, rethinks, and resists political and social norms.65 These following design examples show the future of gendered design in architecture, discussing some people and projects that operate to challenge building codes, governing laws, and the architecture profession.

Privatizing Public Spaces Lori Brown is an architect, feminist, and activist who advocates for gender equality and changes to the architectural profession to make it more inclusive. She co-founded ArchiteXX, which responds to current political and social conditions and raises awareness about women in the built environment. Public Spaces, Private Choices- Regendering Mississippi’s Abortion Clinics addresses one of the most politicized spaces in North America by establishing private zones within public clinics to protect visitors from protesters who restrict their access to reproductive healthcare.66 The firm redesigned the entrance to the Jackson Women's Health Organization by restructuring the building's programming to provide private rooms that treat 65

Franca Trubiano, Ramona Adlakha, and Ramune Bartuskaite, Women [Re] Build: Stories, Polemics, Futures. (San Francisco: Applied Research and Design Publishing, an imprint of ORO editions, 2019), 69 66 Trubiano, Adlakha, and Bartuskaite, Women [Re] Build: Stories, Polemics, Futures, 70.

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women requiring these services. It involved adjustments to the governing laws with an ordinance that demanded that within 100 feet of the clinic, demonstrators could not approach someone closer than eight feet without explicit permission.67 This created a bubble of protection for women entering and exiting the building, “returning to the women their right to freely access spaces”.68 The design includes zones with various private spaces where women can stay throughout treatment - providing a place of refuge for ‌women who require temporary shelter during the abortion due to rape, domestic violence, or being driven away from their homes.69 The effort transformed the clinic to assist women by making it safer and shielding them from others' political, religious, and social views on what they can and cannot do with their bodies.

Non-gendered washrooms The conclusions from Fine’s book agree that there are no hard-wired gender roles and behaviours, hence addressing phenomenology in architecture entails designing for an array of people, including women, the LGTBQ+, and people with disabilities. JSA Design’s Stalled project investigates solutions for all gendered restrooms and a desegregated multi-stall proposal.70 This model is intended to provide safety and inclusivity for its users to bring about a shift in architectural design. Women and people of diverse sexualities face problems when passing through urban spaces and public buildings as a result of their lack of representation in the architectural profession, as stated previously. We must dedicate an agency to their experiences and narratives in order to envision spaces for them on an urban scale. One proposal for Stalled is a multi-stall airport restroom, which divides the space into three zones: grooming, washing, and

67

Trubiano, Adlakha, and Bartuskaite, Women [Re] Build: Stories, Polemics, Futures, 70.

Trubiano, Adlakha, and Ramune, Women [Re] Build: Stories, Polemics, Futures, 71.

69 Trubiano, Adlakha, and Ramune, Women [Re] Build: Stories, Polemics, Futures, 71.

70 Berry et al., Contentious Cities Design and the Gendered Production of Space, 185.

68

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an eliminating space without gender segregation.71 The eliminating stall provides one-way visibility outside the stall, providing a sense of security and safety. Moving forward, this design will reconstruct the building code to implement equitable access in public restrooms. For example, when Stalled is applied in Australia, it would go against the standard for public washrooms, which are required to be assigned male and female spaces, with accessibility spaces at a minimum.72

The Reorganized Household Houses in Japan were traditionally designed to be gendered male, and in 1930 the demand for the redesign of homes rose to adopt a new style of housing that improved the family's quality of life.73 This demand was due to the socio-political-economic changes in society, which included the increase in population, higher income professions, and a demand for higher education among the elite groups of society.74 Since women spent most of their time at home and in the kitchen, these design changes catered to their needs and aimed to make the housewife a part of the family life and activities in the home. The new model of the Japanese house focused less on the aesthetics of the house and more on improving the functionality of the rooms so they could bring the family together.75 It features a living room-centered floor plan where the family can gather and relax with each other. The women were also provided with a study to plan out the meals for the week and budget the family's finances.76 The kitchen was redesigned by raising the sinks and heights of the tables to prevent women from kneeling and

71

Berry et al., Contentious Cities Design and the Gendered Production of Space, 185.

Berry et al., Contentious Cities Design and the Gendered Production of Space, 186.

73 Mariko Inoue, Modern Housing in Prewar Tokyo, vol. 58 (Monumenta Nipponica, 2003), 79.

74 Inoue, Modern Housing in Prewar Tokyo, 80.

75 Inoue, Modern Housing in Prewar Tokyo, 84.

76 Inoue, Modern Housing in Prewar Tokyo, 92.

72

D’souza, Okung, Salinas, and Winters 19

crouching to prepare food.77 Though this design successfully makes the home woman-centred in Japan, it would be executed differently in North America. Designing a home for women would account for later marriages, smaller families, divorce and remarriages, and the changing economic rates.78 Due to this, there must be housing for women that debunks traditional home ideology in society as there are no longer prevalent male-headed families and single-family homes.79 The Women's Development Corporation (WDC) was founded in 1988 to create affordable housing for women.80 They redesigned the Garfield Elementary School in Cincinnati to create forty-three apartment units of various sizes to accommodate the different needs of the women.81 These rooms ranged from single to three bedrooms, catering to low and moderate-income single parents and elderly women who lived in the neighbourhood. It provided childcare providers for women with children who needed to go to work or run errands. Housing stability is especially important for women struggling on their own to make ends meet, so ‌housing units are designed with considerable spatial variety to provide opportunities for the women to enjoy family living without sacrificing their privacy. This case study shifts the traditional idea of home design to focus on women with diverse backgrounds and varying experiences in areas outside the kitchen.

77

Inoue, Modern Housing in Prewar Tokyo, 92.

Leslie Kanes Weisman, Discrimination by Design: A Feminist Critique of the Man-Made Environment (Urbana: University of Illinois, 1994), 145.

79 Kanes Weisman, Discrimination by Design, 145.

80 Leslie Kanes Weisman, Discrimination by Design: A Feminist Critique of the Man-Made Environment (Urbana: University of Illinois, 1994), 146.

81 Kanes Weisman, Discrimination by Design, 146.

78

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Re-gendering Religious Spaces A few years after Dagramacizade was completed, the Sakirin Mosque opened in Istanbul.82 It was very different from all the other mosques as it was the first designed by a female architect, Zeynep Fadillioglu. It confronted the male-dominant spatial organization of the mosque.83 Fadillioglu designed one of the best spots in the mosque for the women instead of relegating them to a segregated space, as is commonly done in mosque architecture.84 The space included a balcony with a clear view of the Mihrab, or “door to Mecca.”85 The railings of the women’s balcony are made of lace-like mesh, creating an atypical level of transparency that reduces the impact of physical segregation from the other programs and people. The mosque has become a symbol of liberation for Islamic women, a place of equality, and a community of worship. Redesigning the mosque with women in mind has increased their involvement and connection to their faith, and as a result of its success, Fadillioglu has gone on to design four more mosques: two in Qatar and two in Bahrain.

Conclusion The existence of gendered spaces within our society is intricately woven into the fabric of both historical and contemporary societal assumptions around gender. Through an exploration of the foundational assumptions on the differing sexes and an analysis of the public, private, and public-private realms, this essay effectively demonstrates society's continuous influence on how varying individuals move through the world. By examining the intensive role that these

82

Mona Mirzaie, Stella Murray, and Olivia Shotyk, “Gender and Religion: A Closer Look at Inequality in Sacred Architecture,” Ethics in the Built Environment, November 26, 2019, https://sites.psu.edu/visionaryarchitecture/2019/11/26/gender-and-religion-a-closer-look-at-inequality-in-sacred-arch itecture/.

83 Mirzaie, Murray, and Shotyk, “Gender and Religion: A Closer Look at Inequality in Sacred Architecture”.

84 Mirzaie, Murray, and Shotyk, “Gender and Religion: A Closer Look at Inequality in Sacred Architecture”.

85 Mirzaie, Murray, and Shotyk, “Gender and Religion: A Closer Look at Inequality in Sacred Architecture”.

D’souza, Okung, Salinas, and Winters 21

preconceived ideas play in our lives, we are able to look to the future, one focused on inclusivity.

Dismantling these gender spaces enables the embracing of diversity, transcending across more than just gender. However, it is additionally important we acknowledge that not all gendered spaces are inherently bad, such as the previously discussed Jackson Women's Health Organization. Certain spaces will always be designed for specific groups to better serve those demographics. It becomes a question for moving forward: where is this line of gendered spaces drawn, and how does the field of architecture play an integral role within this discussion?

D’souza, Okung, Salinas, and Winters 22

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