Gendered Spaces

People coming together through social interactions create space, and you will always enter spaces that function in ways you cannot influence. Spaces can be accessed but do that alone make them accessible? Spaces are themselves gendered rather than neutral. It is divided into the binary of masculine and feminine.

Social stratification and norms get converted into rigid spaces geographically. The public space is even today considered a masculine sphere, and the private productive space of reproduction is that of femininity. Women are restricted to the space close to their homes and semi-private spaces showed to be highly important for everyday activities and primarily domestic work.

Restricted mobility in spaces is also conditional on various factors like caste, social age, etc. Women with a higher social age attain greater mobility in the same spaces over time. Space is socially and culturally produced. Gender roles define how various spaces are claimed differently by different genders. As expressed by Ranade, social structures can be maintained through the control of women’s movement. 

The kitchen is one area where different genders have different roles to play. The result of a patriarchal mentality that starts in the kitchen is the ingrained conviction that women should always put the needs of their spouse and family before their own. Women have little breathing room between getting out of bed and going to sleep. A working woman must get up early the following day to prepare meals, even if she stays up late doing her work and household tasks. These gender-defining roles based on the complexities of a patriarchal society help sustain gender stratification in the physical space.

To some, a woman's workload may appear typical. They can assert that cooking is not difficult at all. However, no one assists the woman in the kitchen, so no one knows how much labour is involved. Women do not even get to choose what they are preparing in the kitchen, let alone receive assistance. It's not like all men are some patriarchal despots who would stomp on food that wasn't ready for their tastes. However, women always decide to prioritise the needs of their family members before their own. It only highlights how deeply ingrained the patriarchal worldview is in caste-based societies. Women must always eat last when it comes to eating the meal that has been prepared.

When you think about life skills, cooking might not be the first thing that comes to mind, but it should be. A fundamental life skill, cooking may help you prepare healthy meals, make friends, and save money. Additionally, learning to cook might enhance your general health. 

Evidence that supports the process of "redoing gender," which eliminates gender differences from social interactions and encourages thinking in gender-neutral terms, includes homosexual men who are experts at setting up their homes and couples where both partners work from home, which violates the traditional gender roles for domestic duties. However, we do not believe these examples are the norm but rather the exception.

The meaning of spaces keeps on evolving with time, femininity and masculinity are shifting as new identities connected with domesticity arise, and both genders find new ways to represent their relationship to the home and balance employment in the private and public spheres.