Abstract
Dwelling is very much related to time. A home shields the dweller from outsiders yet, provides an opportunity to engage with the outside world. However, the time required for household chores tends to hinder this engagement, especially for women. Interestingly, co-housing projects tend to rationalise housing and mutualise time-consuming tasks, freeing up time to and thus emancipating and empowering inhabitants. This argument was put to the test in a field study in Brussels. Through a gendered perspective, the research questions and tries to identify which levers ease domestic drudgery in co-housing projects. Spatial analyses coupled with qualitative observations and interviews were carried out in two co-housing projects. The issue of freeing up time through co-housing seems particularly relevant to various categories of people. First, it addresses gender inequalities regarding an egalitarian sharing of household chores. Second, individual (divorced, elderly, or single) households could also benefit from these time savings. Understanding co-housing within this emancipating perspective could be a lever to influence future policy making and incentives.
Highlights
A few years ago, while we were carrying out research on Swiss cooperatives, it became apparent that co-housing eased residents’ domestic workload
It seems essential to study the signification of gender roles in the domestic sphere as well since it has great political significance [4]
Quantitative research has shown that “gender segregation in domestic work continues to pose a barrier to gender equality” [39]
Summary
A few years ago, while we were carrying out research on Swiss cooperatives, it became apparent that co-housing eased residents’ domestic workload. While usually trapped in care roles linked to gender, age or life circumstances, women, the elderly and single parents were able, through co-housing, to emancipate themselves and have more time to develop other activities. Freeing up time from the traditional domestic chores helps empower people in other spheres of life (work, community, political, etc.) and in the overall social realm. This influence of co-housing on the traditional distribution of domestic work has led to this particular research. When gender studies show interest in spatial issues, it is usually at the scale of public space, with little research on the domestic scale [6,7,8]. The current pandemic has reminded us that the domestic realm remains at the centre of gender inequalities [9]
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