Gendering of Public and Private Space

Gendering of public and private spaces refers to the superimposition of gender meanings on the distinction between public and private space. The meanings of the public/private distinction have changed over time and within various cultures, and the very publicness and privateness of places are conditional and contingent. In Western political thought, especially in those societies that have inherited the philosophical assumptions of the Enlightenment, institutions like the state, the market, workplaces, and, more generally, all spaces of discussion or implementation of government politics or of the principles of living together fall into the category of the public sphere; the household and the family, and more generally the realm of intimate relations, are considered as the private sphere. The two terms of this dichotomy have historically ...