Gender in Public Spaces - Essay Example

How Gender is Represented/Constructed/Performed in Public Spaces Introduction In this world today, the public spaces play quite a significant role in the economic and social life of the different communities of the world. Big town and major cities of the world have all kind of public spaces and meeting spaces which are quite significant social resources (Innes and Jones, 2006, p. 12). The public spaces in this context include places where people adversely converge; the street markets, street parks, playgrounds, residential areas, neighborhood areas, shopping stalls and the high streets. The public spaces also include the ‘micro spaces’; street corners and stairwells spaces that are characterized as ‘frequent spaces since they are used by individuals every day. Mean and Tims (2005, p. 23) goes on to refer to such spaces as spaces bearing daily casual functional use. As a result of acceleration of the social, economic, cultural and social changes in the world today, the urban life has transformed the public spaces (Sydney, 2003, p. 215-228). This has nevertheless reformed social and cultural interrelations and interactions, mobility, communication between individuals and more so the use of time (Dunnet et.al, 2002, p. 10-23). Public spaces are vital for they give individual persons a freedom to move around whether on foot, on bicycles, by a car or even by other public mean (Peiser and Schwann, 1993, p. 91-104). The public spaces give people freedom to move in and within other spaces (Gehl and Gemzoe, 2000, p. 25). Public places in all parts of the world are open to every person regardless of their color, age, ethnicity or gender. They represent demographic forums for the different individuals and societies around the world. These spaces are therefore supposed to be properly maintained and cared for. Public spaces have however been a big source of gender-based discriminations in our society. Gender misrepresentation in our societies has been the worst enemy to promoting social inclusion in our towns and major cities. This has had a negative impact not only to the social development of the society at large but also to the economic development of the major cities and towns around the world. Societal gender reconstruction is not an easy task bearing in mind that the roots of the underling misconceptions and perceptions held by some communities of the world concerning the female gender are deep and difficult to break (Hoff, 1994, 149-168). There are still individuals who perceive public spaces as places for men not women. In the recent years, media has helped bring down such perceptions (Doreen, 1999, p. 128-133). Such perceptions are wrong. Some researchers have even indicated that soon the greater contributors to the economies of the world (McDowell, 1994, p. 229-251). In a nutshell, public places bring different communities together thus fostering social ties between the different individuals. Public spaces help in restoring unity amongst genders that has been depleting in most urban centers of the world (Luther and Gruehn, 2001, p. 23-25. The perception that public space is not a place for women has been a core source of gender-based violence cases such as forced prostitution, rape, sexual assault and other forms of degradation that have hindered autonomy and mobility of women (Evans et.al, 2010, p. 211-2229). This has further escalated the gender inequalities and imbalances in the public space. Gender inequality has for centuries been a focal issue in most societies of the world. It is funny how after the birth of a child, the first thing to be checked has normally been the sex of the particular child. It has been so because individuals are always inclined towards a certain sex in the society. Men have always been favored as the stronger gender of the society compared to women (Valentine, 1989, p. 385-390). These old perceptions have been passed by time and therefore access to the public space should be a right to every person living in the city. Methodology Reasons for choosing this space 1. Public spaces have a significant role in our social life as humans Public places offer us an opportunity to be attached to the surrounding locality if it is not their own and also mix with other individuals with a diversified origin. According to Dines et.al (2006, p. 32), it is natural that when individuals visit places such as the street markets they ‘feel good’ following the open air and as a result of many activities taking place. Other places of retreat such as parks, cemetery or public places and footpaths near the water give an individual an opportunity to at least forget the domestic pressures (Dines et.al 2006, p. 37-40). Some others use these spaces to sit and watch others since it is what they love to do. Watson and Studdert (2006, p. 45) indicates that whenever individuals visit the street stalls and markets, they get to know the owners of the stalls as well as meet friends they have not met in long time. 2. Gender imbalance in the public spaces Even though the issue of gender inequality in the public space has been addressed, it has not fully been addressed since women do not have full autonomous and mobility to the public spaces. There are still public spaces where gender- based violence cases are still experienced. There is need therefore to readdress such issues. 3. There are particular rhythms to use of the public spaces Public places are not always in use. Most public spaces in the urban centers have a rhythm of use that is attributable to social events such as public festivals as well as the operations of the businesses and the markets. The use of the public spaces is crucial to the daily lives of both men and women in the towns and major cities since it promotes social inclusion. Winter and the summer seasons do affect the use of the public spaces and so the times of the day; night or daytime. 4. Public spaces foster growth of friendships, exchange of ideas, skills and even goods Inside the public spaces, cultural, personal and economic exchanges are witnessed. Individuals and the society at large cannot be able to survive without the public spaces. By meeting new friends in public spaces, it is possible for a person to learn new skills and ideas for example on how to grow and care for vegetables. Public spaces therefore provide an adequate forum for the different individuals to mingle, share experiences, ideas, thoughts and even share goods such as foods. What was done to ensure the project was ethical As far as the ethical issues were concerned, the researcher ensured that the identity of the persons in the photos remained anonymous since the researcher was only concerned with how the public space is laid out. It was impossible to get empty public spaces; therefore the researcher could not avoid capturing the persons in the photos. Decisions made about the photos The photos entirely focused on the public space in different cities and towns. These are the places that are used by people when shopping, leisure; relaxing and meeting with friends as well as social events. Some of these places are also used by parents as kid’s playgrounds. The pictures taken incorporated both daytime and night what further helped the researcher to be in a position to adequately analyze the public space is used at night. Problems encountered when taking photos The only problem experienced by the researcher was the fact that in some places there was too much light during the day and as a result of reflections from shiny objects such as mirrors, the ability of taking clear photos was limited thus affecting the quality of some of the pictures. On the other hand, at the night the researcher was only able to capture photos from the public spaces which were well lit. Also, it was not easy for the researcher to walk into the public spaces and take photos without raising suspicion. Nevertheless, the researcher was able to capture what was expected. Analysis There are basically theories and approaches to gender development. Some of these theories include the feminist theory and the Kaschak’s theory. Feminist theory seeks to establish the nature of the inequality between men and women in the society while Kaschak’s theory seeks to explain why men grow up believing as to be powerful than women and why women grow up believing they are men’s possession. To understand more on gender inequality that exists in our communities, different scholars advocate that one should be in a position to differentiate between gender and sex. Sex is just the physiological structures of a human being while gender is feminine or the masculine structures of a person (McDowell, 2002, p. 97-120). How has gender been constructed in our public spaces? According to Ruddick (1996, p. 132-151), gender is a major factor that influence public interrelations, social encounters and exchanges in public spaces. Looking at the modern cities we have today, there are more activities in the public spaces than before. Today, more individuals are busy in the public streets, parks and squares trying to make a living. The picture below is street market where individuals go to buy goods. A market is a public space where there are buyers and sellers of different commodities. Any person can be in a market; a man, woman or even a child. In the past, markets were more associated with women more than men since women were in charge of the home affairs. Nevertheless, a market is a gender neutral public space. As the cities expand, businesses have expanded too hence providing people with even greater spaces to enjoy the open air and meet with friends. The picture above is an open-air restaurant along the street. Human beings are social beings in nature and therefore cannot survive without interacting with other human beings. It is the same reason why human beings start families because they have that social aspect in them. Restaurants are known to be places for all irrespective of gender, age, color or ethnicity. It is a place where all customers are treated equally because restaurants are there to offer the best services and products to the customers. Today, there are hundreds of restaurants along the major streets where individuals can have a drink, a snack or even a meal as they conduct their daily work routines. Some of such public spaces were not associated with women in the past since they were friendlier to men (Iveson, 2003, p. 215,228). However, not all public spaces are friendly to women these days particularly at certain times of the night. This is so because there are still cases of gender-based violence in such public spaces (Trautner, 2005, p. 771-788). Psychologically, women get affected by feelings more than men. Women will therefore tend to avoid the public spaces which have been associated with cases of gender-based violence as well as the isolated public spaces. In this context, when women are struck by fear, their mobility becomes restricted to only certain public spaces. The following picture is an example of a public recreational park that is isolated and may scare women particularly at night. Nevertheless, world statistics has revealed that collectively public parks, squares and footpaths are used more often by women than men following the role women play in the social life (Heimtun, 2010, p. 175-192). Citizens in conjunction with local governments in major cities of the world have joined hands to help put up public spaces with more considerations to the aspect of gender balance between men and women as well as other aspects such as ethnicity, social statuses and age (Waitt, 2008, p. 75-95). This particular hotel is situated at the heart of this town. This is a place where men and women are as busy as ever. There is even no time to even check on what the other people are up to. Such public spaces remain open till midnight. Nevertheless, nights are not considered a factor affecting the usage of the public spaces in the major cities since normally at night there are equally as many people in the streets as there are during the day. The following picture is an illustration of high street at night. High streets are always busy avenues whether during the day or during the night. They are properly lit hence secure for all to run their affairs with comfort. Both women and men use these streets everyday when conducting their day to day businesses. In the major towns and cities, there are specific public spaces preserved as playgrounds for the kids. These are places where parents and take their kids out to play with other kids from the different neighborhoods. These places are so dear to these kids to an extent that they frequently visit the places. They are normally situated in places where they are accessible to the greater population of the town. Parents perceive these spaces as safe places for the kids to play that is the underlying reason why they take them there. They are owned by the local government and therefore open to anyone. It is evident that most of the public spaces such as parks and squares are strategically located in cool and silent places where one can relax after a long day at work and try to kick out the job related stresses, relieve him or herself from the domestic related stresses, have shelter from the scorching sun or even kill time. Normally, a human mind is more relaxed when one sits in a cool and a quiet place. Such places are open to all at any given time of the day or night. However, they have been amongst the unsafe public spaces for women following their solitude nature. They have been amongst places where sexual assault cases have been witnessed. The trend has therefore been that such places are open for women to enjoy the public space up to certain times of the day. Other places that have not been quite friendly to women are the neighborhood spaces. In the past, in most major cities, such spaces have been dominated by the street gangs who have been the core perpetrators to gender-based violence cases (Peiser and Schwann, 1993, p. 91-104). Women have therefore been avoiding such places since they are dangerous for their survival. Conclusion Public spaces have a significant impact to the economic life of the different urban centers around the world; big or small for their capabilities of luring the potential investors. This is so because as the towns grow, they normally compete with one another for investors. Adequate public spaces have in the past been used by some of the major cities of the world as a strategy to lure the investors. Eventually, adequate public spaces cannot be attained if such places are still hit by gender inequalities. This means that with no gender equality, chances are that there are no economic developments in a city. Women today are equal contributors to the economy as men and therefore for a city to grow economically, discriminations on the grounds of gender, color, religion, age and even ethnicity have to be permanently abolished. A major step towards abolishing all forms of gender discrimination in our cities today would be to structure public spaces with more gender equality. Bibliography Dines, Nicholas, Cattell, Vicky, Wil, Gesler and Sarah, Curtis. 2006 .Public spaces, social relations and well- being in East London. Published by The Policy Press for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Dunnett, N., Swanwick, C. and Woolley, H. 2002. Improving Urban Parks, Play Areas and Green Spaces. London, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Evans, Adrienne, Sarah, Riley, and Avi, Shankar. 2010. Postfeminist Heterotopias Negotiating Safeand Seedyin the British Sex Shop Space. European journal of womens studies 17.3: 211-229. Gehl, J. and Gemzoe, L. 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