Gender in geography: An essential basis of analysis

Abstract

Cultural values and norms about women, men, gender relations and about femininity and masculinity not only are fundamental in the construction processes of societies; they also shape the constitution and the use of spaces and places from individual to global level. The home, the company, neighbourhoods, public spaces, the labour market, the city, the nation state or the global market: all of these spaces are closely and inextricably characterized by specific activities of women and men, by specific gendered power relations and by specific symbolic meanings of gender. Geographic research should therefore acknowledge gender as an essential basis of analysis. In my statement I will present some recent results of geographic research on gender in Switzerland focusing on the spaces "home", "labour market" and "welfare state". I am convinced that geographic science with its traditional focus on specific socio-spatial contexts at different levels is capable to make substantial contributions to the rapidly developing and inherently interdisciplinary field of gender studies.