Gendered space and women's community work

Abstract

Sociological studies focusing on women have increased substantially since the 1960s. Feminist theory has flourished as a substantive area within sociology and as an interdisciplinary field, as is made evident by women's studies curricula and publications devoted to feminism. Yet, urban sociology has not given women the same attention. There is a missing feminist revolution (Stacey and Thorne 1985) in urban sociology. This is also the case for urban spatial theory, in which women's agency is not documented. The seminal work of Henri Lefebvre (1991, 1996) presents a new approach to urban studies which examines the urban political economy and provides a spatial framework in which activities occur in space and shape it, while space also has an impact on actions. However, Lefebvre's writings do not include a discussion on women and urban space, even in areas in which women's presence is obvious and their lives greatly affected, such as suburbanization. Similarly, even though he is critical of urban theory, Gottdiener (1994a) does not discuss women or women's issues, despite devoting a chapter to community, lib-