Gender and the Built Environment in India

From the city to the institution, from the neighbourhood to the dwelling, the ideals and reality of the social relationship between men and women find expression in the built form. Cultural rules govern the use of space and codes regulate behaviour between genders. Within the social context of built space, feminist criticism and consciousness have played an important role. Since the 1970s increased attention has been focused on gender issues in fields such as the media, politics, law, management, and women’s studies. But the disciplines connected with the built environment – interior design, architecture, planning, urban design – have lagged behind, ensuring that the man-made landscape continues to be accepted as a neutral background. 

This book examines the role of women as consumers and creators of the built space and focuses on India and parts of South Asia. The writers explore the gender perspective from various angles. They cover issues such as domesticity and home, women labourers and construction work, the practice of architecture, education, women and leisure as well as women’s relationship to the public sphere and housing in the vernacular mode.

MADHAVI DESAI is an architect, researcher, writer and teacher. She was an adjunct faculty at CEPT University, Ahmedabad, India (1986-2018) and is a founder member of the Women Architects Forum and more recently, the Feminist Collective in Architecture in India. She is the co-author of Architecture and Independence: The Search for Identity, India 1880 to 1980 (1997), Architectural Heritage of Gujarat: Interpretation, Appreciation, Values (2012) The Bungalow in Twentieth Century India: The Cultural Expression of Changing Ways of Life and Aspirations in the Domestic Architecture of Colonial and Post-colonial Society (2012). and author of Traditional Architecture: House Form of the Islamic Community of the Bohras in Gujarat (2007) and Women Architects and Modernism in India: Narratives and Contemporary Practices (2017).