Look Again
by Kabeer Guliani
gender binaries in architecture
“Celebrating the work of women in architecture is nothing to be embarrassed about.”
The concept of ‘genders’ is a notion known to mankind ever since it was sensitized of its existence. The tendency to distinguish between different types of people all started off with a binary approach – male and female. As time has passed by, the world has stumbled upon various other ways to ‘differentiate’ between human folk, with a vast and colourful range of sexualities and modes of gender identification. Amongst this web of gender fluid (pun intended), we find our world being attacked by waves of discrimination, with the majority of the wounds concentrated at the area where the females reside, and that is not a comfortable abode when looked at from any angle.
For centuries, the most widely ‘accepted’ roles of females have been to take care of families, attend to the injured, take care of offspring, prepare divine cuisines, resist the urge to speak when a heavy discussion, or any discussion, rather, takes place, and what-have-you. Nevertheless, women stay strong, and never fail to speak up when they know that things have gone too far. However, a woman’s ability to continuously try and establish her significance in society is not an excuse to turn a blind eye to the happenings of today. Females may be one of the most strong-willed and resilient creations of the questionably existent All-Mighty, but that leaves no room for openly prejudiced conduct towards females – and for that matter, there is no room for such means of treatment towards any gender.
What is feminism? Feminism is a system created in an attempt to normalise the very same privileges for women as are existent, ostensibly, for men. It is an idea that is taken forward with the intention to provide women with the same social, political, and all other rights as men. At the grassroots level, it strives to assert the fact that the people on this planet are all equal; that before male or female, trans or cis, we are all, indeed, humans, and that entitles us to equal rights and opportunities. The problems of today, as evident, will not cease any time soon. At one side we have people who will hesitate to provide women with the opportunities that are their birth right, and at the other we have people who try to provide women with a comfortable atmosphere for the sole reason that they see them as weaker and more feeble citizens.
This is where the problem of benevolence arises. “Benevolent sexism is when someone positively reinforces gender stereotypes. For example, a boss may feel protective of women employees or idealise their role as mothers. In the context of the campaign for equality, a benevolent sexist might openly support initiatives to protect women from harsh working conditions or promote work/life balance.”, says Christine Murray in an article in ‘Dezeen’ preceded by the line “By highlighting the problems faced by women in architecture, are we making it worse?”
Women are aware that there may be certain physical endeavours that they may have difficulty participating in when compared to their male counterparts. However, there are women who know when they do not require the aid of others to perform any activity whatsoever. When somebody offers help to a woman for the sake of ‘chivalry,’ chances are that her sentiments may get hurt. The issue of benevolence can be observed all over the field of architecture. What with man-scaled instruments and heavy-duty material, it is only natural for males to offer their ‘services’ to their fellow female designers. “The campaign for change may have inadvertently encouraged a culture of benevolent sexism.”
