Feminist Library - Part IV

Continuing the series on feminism, in this post I’ll provide a brief review of Leslie Kern’s book *Feminist City*.

This book examines the structure of modern cities from a feminist perspective, focusing on the gender inequalities that cities help to replicate and perpetuate. It’s truly impossible to look at the city in the same way again after reading this book.

Phenomena such as gentrification are examined through a feminist lens, revealing how cities—through government inaction and market forces—do nothing but sustain and reinforce a patriarchal and unequal society. In this regard, the author argues:

“For middle-class families, gentrification served as a geographical solution to the problems women face in trying to balance home and work. As more and more women began to gain access to better-paying jobs, to postpone marriage and motherhood, and even to choose to leave the heterosexual family unit, they began to seek out urban environments that could adapt to their needs and provide them with the necessary services.”

Intersectionality is highlighted time and again throughout the book, and we discover how urban planning is yet another disciplining force (alongside the media, education, politics, etc.) for women, dissidents, and minorities. A city designed around the average man (cisgender and white, obviously), which emphasizes productivity rather than human development, will never be welcoming to all those who deviate from that average model: children, pregnant people, older adults, people with disabilities, etc. In this sense, the following statement strikes me as incredibly revealing:

“Every settlement is an inscription in space of the social relations of the society that builds it […]. Our cities are patriarchy written in stone, brick, glass, and concrete.”

On the other hand, understanding how the city is also part of the social construction and the education we women receive is revealing. How many times do we take a longer walk to avoid passing through a dark block? How many times do we take a bus for just a few blocks out of fear of walking through a certain area? How many times do we choose work schedules or class times to avoid walking alone at night? All of this adds to the mental load that women bear and entails an extra expenditure of time and money, which compounds the already diminished time and income we have compared to men. Basic urban planning measures—which wouldn’t be that costly to implement, such as street lighting and the placement of public transportation stops—are systematically overlooked in public works projects, and this, according to the author, has a clear motive: to perpetuate fear.

“Fear serves the social function of controlling women. Fear limits our lives: it restricts our use of public spaces, shapes our choices and our employment and economic decisions, and keeps us dependent on men as protectors. All of this serves to prop up the heteropatriarchal capitalist system in which women are confined to the private sphere of the home, responsible for domestic work within the institution of the nuclear family. It is a system that favors men as a group and is highly effective at maintaining the status quo.”

Urban development—including the design of green spaces, transportation systems, and work and leisure areas—should take all individuals into account and focus on reducing the gaps related to care work. On this topic, the author comments:

“A feminist city must prioritize care, not because women should continue to bear the primary responsibility for it, but because the city is capable of distributing care work more equitably. A feminist city must pay attention to the creative tools that women have always used to support one another, and find ways to incorporate that support into the very fabric of the urban world.”

Ultimately, the city should be a welcoming space for everyone, one that fosters a healthy balance between personal, family, and work life, is ecologically sustainable, and helps minimize disparities.

See you next time!