Gender Relations and Housing: A Cross-community Analysis

Abstract

Housing is not only a technological product, it is also a product of culture and gender relations. Gender differentiation in the means adopted to meet basic needs, access to religious spaces, social interaction, ownership and inheritance systems is reflected in built technology, affecting housing elements like the quality and size of space. And just as gender differentiation affects the structure of the house, so also the structure of the house reveals existing hierarchies and perpetuates differential access to opportunities. It adds to difficulties in sharing household responsibility and comes in the way of efficiently running the household, affecting women’s health and reinforcing existing gender relations. This paper studies gender relations as they affect housing in the case of the Newar community of Khokana village in Nepal. To highlight key points, illustrative examples are taken from a Karen and an Isan village in Thailand.