TITLE:

Understanding the concept of Gender based Development

POINTS INCLUDED: (Introduction, Characteristics of public spaces, need for gender analysis, gender
sensitive planning)

INTRODUCTION:

Gender based development for public spaces can induce psycho-socio, behavioral and cultural
changes that can impede their use, appropriation and safety for its users. The perception of
spaces that are enjoyed and experienced by men and women are different. These perceptions
are formulated by their biological differences, social construction of gender and past
experiences. Gender based development is about promoting cities that respond equally to men
and women promoting sustainable and equitable urban development.

ARTICLE:

‘Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus’

The quote differentiates between gender personalities. The reactions of both genders, whether
to routine activities or spaces are different. It is hence true that even the notion of a ‘public
space’ is different for both genders.

Architecture has a unique quality to make people feel valuable, dignified, honored, and seen. It
is made by keeping you in mind. On any given day, public spaces are the setting for an array of
gendered social interactions. As a result of these interactions, public spaces become gendered
themselves.

For instance, in a schoolyard, young girls tend to gather in the courtyard and watch young boys
play in a field. As this scenario continues, the space under the courtyard will become
understood as a “girl’s space” and the field will become understood as a “boy’s space”. This can
be problematic because public space should belong to everyone and everyone should feel right
to use it.
Architecture carries a heavy cultural burden. This view of architecture ignores the fact that
buildings are not merely geometrical or spatial phenomena, but exist in a socio-cultural context
and respond to functional and experiential programs. The built environment is a powerfully
determining human creation that both reflects and conditions the life experiences of its
inhabitants and the relationships between them. The vectors of inequality and difference are
multiple- class, gender, race, culture, age, sexuality intersect in a complex matrix.

Gender analysis is essential for the ability of the built environment to respond to the needs of all
who utilize planned spaces. Understanding the role of gender can be helpful in the process of
developing gender-sensitive planning strategies. The elements of the built environment have a
profound effect on the three notions of safety: comfort, belonging, and commitment.

Gender-sensitive planning focuses on the interrelationship between gender and development.

The design of a space has the potential to either reinforce gender inequality or to advance
gender equality. Gender consideration is a recent development in the field of architectural
planning as well as in the greater context of urban planning, built and unbuilt spaces were
attempted to be designed for women as a specific user group.

Gender-based urban development is about promoting cities that respond to in an equal manner
to men and women. However, because women experience cities differently, meeting their needs
become critical to promoting equitable urban development. In patriarchal economies such as
India, women's interests have conventionally been underrepresented in policy and planned
development. The development of our cities and suburbs is influenced directly and indirectly by
systems and mechanisms of power and control from which women have been and remain
almost totally excluded.

Since the advent of feminism, activists and theorists deploying the tools of feminist analysis
have remarked on the generic neglect by the built environment professions of the needs,
experiences, and perceptions of women. The built environment helps to produce and interpret
has direct material effects on the lives of all people.

The built environment as ‘ground’ and architecture as ‘figure’ reflect and perpetuate class and
ethnicity- bound social, cultural, and political imperatives and are specific to time and place.

No one is demanding a completely women-centric space, but everyone should root for space,
which is favorable for both genders. One needs to ponder whether the public spaces are
conducive to both men and women. Or, are these, in fact, gendered spaces, where a man’s
perspective is labeled as the basis for all planning, giving way to spaces which are then called
‘neutral’?
Next Article: Historical context of Feminism and Built environment

References:

1. Brydon, L. and Chant, S. (1989) Women in the Third World: Gender Issues in Rural and Urban
Areas. Aldershot, UK, Edward Elgar.
2. Rendell, J. (2000) Introduction: Gender, Space and Architecture. In Rendell, Penner and Borden,
(2000), pp. 255-279.

Keywords:

Gender based development, public space, built environment, gendered spaces, women-centric space