It will be regarded as over simplicity on my part or be accused of gender insensitivity to delve into the discussion without defining some key terms that form the basis of the discussion: “woman in the city of man”. It is also important to bear in mind the setting of this book (as most instances given were based on the realities of the Global North) as well as attempt to discuss it in our local context so as to appreciate the realities of the issues. So I will base this discussion consciously in the reality of the global south without totally neglecting the global stand on the issue.
According to Greed, C.H. (2009),” in discussing the city of man as against the demands of a woman and planning movement one can present a simplistic model of a dualist situation in which all men are to be blamed and all women suffer equally”. The author of this book painstakingly discussed the issue of women subjugation in a society dominated and designed and administered by men for their follow men without due consideration for women. She claimed that women are integral aspect of the environment and the society and should be carried along. The integrity of urban planning and the planning profession also was under scrutiny by the author. Land use zoning, public transportation system, as well as other socio-economic issues as regards to women. However, these issues are the very failures of urban planning as a profession. But on whether the author is right or wrong is a question of how (to what extent)?
In the course of this review I will try to highlight some of the issues raised by the author and then subject them to some theoretical and practical evidences. The question as to whether the author is raising unnecessary dust or being schizophrenic or rather clear accusations or being mentally subjugated shall also be discussed. What actually is the problem with our female professionals? What are we dealing with? Facts or feelings?
Before I proceed into the argument I would like to present these lyrics by the ‘gang of four’:
We have all got opinions
And what we think
Changes how we act
So to change ideas
Changes what we do.
(adopted from the theory toolbox by Nealon J. Et Al.)
Now let's clearly defined a few important terms:
Gender. This refers to the socially constructed characteristics of men and women – such as norms, roles and relationships between groups of women and men (WHO 2018). It varies from society to society and can be changed.
Class. Class according to sociologists refers to a group of individuals who occupy a similar position in the economic system of production.
PATRIARCHY, GENDER AND FEMINISM.
Greed, C.H. (2009) in her book “Women and Planning: Creating Gender Realities” stated as I summarize: while women are structurally and biologically different from men, they should not also determine cultural differences as to:
Who should be responsible for child care.
Who should go out to work.
She attributed it to cultural fabrications caused by patriarchy to the disadvantage of women. Patriarchy in the society can be describe by this brief history by Margaret Ehrenberg as summarized by Hope Benne
During the Paleolithic and Neolithic eras there was almost certainly equality between men and women. Research and circumstantial evidence reveals that women’s roles were greater than historians had previously acknowledged. She also asserts that women's status depends largely on their economic role. The more important and independent their economic role, the higher their status. By the time of the Bronze Age, around 2,000 BC, light-weight hoes were replaced by large bronze-tipped plows pulled by oxen. Men’s strength was needed to handle large animals and heavier plows. Early warfare, defined as one entire group of people fighting another group of people, prompted the need for permanent military forces to protect villages. These forces were always prepared to drive out invaders, because men’s strength was needed for this effort, warrior men acquired high status. When men fought wars women were forced aside in a subordinate role.
In addition, another setback for social justice, the settled agricultural way of life and the rise of permanent military forces not only led to women becoming subordinated, it also paved the way for the development of social classes. Warrior men acquired high social status at the top of society, and these men eventually became the first ruling monarchs. Men also handled increasing trade at the end of the Neolithic era and the rise of civilization. Merchants set out into the unknown, often traveling long distances to find resources and luxury goods for the ruling classes. These early trade missions, with camels or horses carrying goods, required strength and stamina. Women bearing and nursing children would not have been able to participate in long- distance trade.
In line with the view of liberal feminist, the accused conspiracy of men against women were but an extreme perception of radical feminism. Men only needed increased awareness on gender sensitivity in some issues bordering on who does what domestically and not a conscious effort to sideline them. Obviously, women live in a society where men are seen as the figure and has the finally say but professionally it is not so. In Nigeria for instance, many cultures see men as the head and contributor to discussions. While women are seen as just domestic helpers. This can be seen as a patriarchal tendency but the big question is why? From history it has been so. The role of provision and protection has been given to men right from the creator. This could be the reason many men are seen in the army against the women numerically. This is why men are seen as the head of every household. But as time went by, moving from one socio-political dispensation to another has resulted to both physical and constitutional change of position. As we move through the centuries, man (men and women) changes as well as roles.
In this democratic century, we have the likes of John Ellen Sir-Leaf the former president of Liberia, Serena and Venus Williams, Theresa May- the British prime minister, Dame Virgie Etiaba- the first female governor (Anambra state) in Nigeria, Alhassan Amina (Mama Taraba), Mrs. Nkoji Okonjo Iweala, Amina Mohammed - Deputy Sec Gen of The UN, Allison Maduekwe, Oby Ezekwesilli, Aisha Yusuf, Late Prof. Dora Akunyili among other notable women across the world who have stood out even among their common ‘oppressor’ -men. These people realized the dictates of the dispensation they are in and took advantage of it. We are in a democratic century with equal opportunities and platform (equity). Though I understand that there are some limitations placed on women in some religion and cultural setting.
But what about women in countries with barely no physical or constitutional restrictions? Women have accepted the status-quo and are never willing to challenge it except for a few. Apart from the Arabs with strict but lessening laws on certain things concerning women, there is no democratic or political constitution in the world that stated that certain positions in the society are exclusively for men. Then why are women not coming out politically?
However, concerted efforts have been made by government and non-governmental organizations to increase the level of participation of women in politics in line with the declaration made at the fourth World Conference on women in Beijing, which advocated 30% affirmative action. In Nigeria, the extant National Gender Policy (NGP) recommended 35% affirmative action instead and sought for a more inclusive representation of women with at least 35% of both elective political and appointive public service positions respectively.
The national average of women’s political participation in Nigeria has remained 6.7 percent in elective and appointive positions, which is far below the Global Average of 22.5 percent, Africa Regional Average of 23.4 percent and West African Sub Regional Average of 15 percent.
SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN THE WORK PLACE.
Men are not the reason for women exclusion in the society, they are rather the architect of their own problem. The subjugation, belittlement and seclusion are all in their mind and to change it, they will have to change their thought system.
Another issue of importance is the experiences of women in the built environment. According to the author, women are being discriminated against when they sought promotion as well as being sexually harassed in their work places and the streets in the city allegedly made by men for their fellow men. Globally, sexual harassment in the work place has been a serious crime in the built environment and requires urgent attention irrespective of gender and opinion. This is because, like every other form of crime it does not know gender. Women are mostly victims of sexual abuse and bear devastating consequences thereafter. But here is another disturbing and unusual report.
According to a Washington post survey, 10% of men have been harassed sexually in 1990. Between 1990 and 1999, the figure rose from 10-16% in the united states. In Nigeria, The National Council for Women Affairs (2007) affirms that sexual harassment at the workplace mostly affects women and constitutes an obstruction to their apt assimilation into the organization and the labour market. Data from the Federal Office of Statistics (FOS-NBS) indicates that while the percentage of women who have experienced sexual harassment at work ranged from 40% to 68%, only between 9% and 13% of male workers had the same experience within a five-year period. These figures are bound to increase against men with the clamour for homosexuality making waves globally.
In another report, 73% of male against 27% female lost their lives in road accidents in 2017 globally (WHO, 2017). Meanwhile, Nigeria recorded a total of 8672 road accidents in year 2017 comprising of 74% males and 26% females out of which 79% of the male victims lost their lives against 21% of the female victims (National Bureau of Statistics, 2017). Again I would like to say here that death has no gender and knows no gender. Why is the accident ratio so much in favour of women? (sarcasm). The rate at which men die is worrisome and calls for urgent attention. Why are ‘feminist’ not talking about it? Or don’t we love our men? The burden of provision and protection could be a worthy answer to the question or probably our radical feminists can be of help. This is the same environment planned by men for their fellow men to the disadvantage of women. These excluding cases of kidnapping and robbery that men are involved in, in an attempt to provide and protect women in their sphere. I think: caution is needed in addressing the issue of gender as it relates to the built environment. I am however tempted to accuse environmental feminists of cheer insensitivity and self-centeredness. With the exception of nothing, we all are vulnerable! Crime and death has no exception and worst is expected in the future if we don’t stop the blame game and marry our responsibilities. It will be fair to attribute the anomaly in the environment to the negligence of physical planning, spatial inefficiency among other socio-political and economic factors rather than seeing it as a conspiracy by men. We should however note that problems are not solved by apportioning blames. What you think is your mindset and to change mindsets our perception of issues must change, then our actions. This argument however is more of an ideology than a technical issue.
CLASS, CAPITALISM AND ZONING
As the author rightly put it, ‘women’s concern with childcare, and domestic responsibilities does not fit in easily within urban dichotomies’. This is because of the fact that segregations are based on the fact that the productive labour force are mostly adult men, and planning is meant for the working class in the society. But recent realities do not quit accommodate the resultant effects of the paradigm shift in gender involvement in the society. Greed in quoting Marx (1875) in his structural theory of society stated that land use segregations were based on public uses while Walby (1986) hinted that little regard was given to women roles in production, reproduction and consumption in the private realm of home.
Men have a king of triangular or articulated form of movement in space and can be demonstrated with the use of a simple triangle as below.
The “triangular movement” makes it easier for a man to commute across with ease as they have limited issues to attend to. Unlike the men, women in their nature have a form of haphazard form of movement which can be represented in a complex web-like pattern of movement. They have to shuttle between home, work, leisure, shopping, childcare and children school. Their complex movement pattern can be represented in the diagram below:
According to a study by daily mail in 2010, man covers an average of 1.5miles per week as against 2.96miles by a woman during shopping. This a fact that no one should argue about but requiring some considerations were possible so as to ensure flexibility in moving between and among uses as Lewis Keeble (1969) pointed out.
However, Greed almost succeeded in making planning what she wanted it to be rather than what it ought to be. While I agree with her on the issues highlighted above, her reasons are not quit acceptable. Land use planning and subdivision is an age-long planning principle that can be traced back to antiquity. The ancient walled cities were the predecessors for classifying and regulating land based on uses. Outside the walls were where undesirable functions were located due to noise and smell. Between walls were unsanitary and dangerous activities while within walls were for living. The reasons for land use segregation was further buttressed by Hannah in her book, “The Human Conditions”: she stated that industrial revolution, cultural and socio-economic shifts led to increase in enforcement of urban regulations. Overcrowding, pollution and squalor associated with factories were major concerns that led city officials and planners to consider the need for functional separation of uses (Sonia: origin and implications of American land regulations, 2014).
On this note, I will like to disregard some of the statements by the author as they are mere insinuations fueled by unavoidable feeling of victimhood. Hence, land use zoning and subdivisions are pure planning principles to safeguard the environment and public health so as to ensure sustainability. However, this has unconsciously affected not just women but men as well though at different scale and dimension.
THE OUTWARD GROWTH OF CITIES AND TRANSPORTATION.
The argument as per who drives the car is really not an academic debate from my perception because, it is solely a private issue which is dependent on the priorities of individual households and what they agree on. Factors bothering on cost, convenience and flexibility (geography, and location) all comes into consideration when deciding on who drives the car. These factors however are place and person specific and should not be generalized for the sake of equity and sensitivity.
We live in a country (Nigeria) where virtually everything seems not to be working properly including emergency services. So, having a car is an addition and a huge incentive during emergencies especially when the woman can drive (because women are the ones with the children most of the time). But what happens when they cannot drive? Some women especially the unschooled ones find it difficult to drive due to fear. While some believe it is a man thing, others can’t just believe in themselves. This is why I always advocate for women to learn driving irrespective of social class.
On the other hand, effective public transport system is what we should be advocating for in this century of sustainability, so as to minimize urban pollution and congestion with special consideration for women and nursing mothers. Hence, public transport system should be restructured to accommodate the different needs of women in a sustainable way. Like the author rightly stated, “women’s lack of mobility is often seen as their own fault and not an urban structural issue”. “Women’s justified fear for their safety, an issue linked to travel, may be diagnosed as a disease such as agoraphobia or even schizophrenia (the inability to distinguish reality from unreality)” (Ussher, 1999).
Focas (1989;168) view of creating a policy to encourage women to obtain a driving license and drive whenever opportune would have been a viable option. But unfortunately, urban planning has moved on from that- if it is not environmental friendly, it shouldn’t be it.
DISTRICT PLANNING.
“Zoning problems combined with the capricious dispersed locations of essential local facilities such as schools, shops, and health facilities has compounded the problems of women by creating time-budgeting problems and inconveniences (Bhride, 1987)”. This according to Greed affects all classes of women and are viewed as unprofessionalism when trying to combine home activities with their job. Some male professionals often see women as not being for certain jobs. They also argue that women should retire to where they belong “kitchen”. So an average African woman is at risk of abandoning her career or exchanging it for the so called domestic activities. The atmosphere is not friendly at all for women especially in the global south, as they are exposed to a number of issues ranging from taunts to outright abuse. However, many have rose through the psycho-social anomaly to becoming great women in the society- judiciously combining career and family without compromise. At this point, it will be right to say that women have the inherent ability to perform better than men in several aspect of the society with their ability to multi-task.
But then, there is another twist in the argument when the author quoted Attfield (1989); “ironically, although neighbourhood units might be seen as falling on the domestic, female home side of the public/private dichotomy and may be most inconvenient for women to inhabit, often with shops, schools, and factories in opposite directions, involving additional walking and worry”. She however sees the neighbourhood concept as an artificial concept based on a sentimentalized ideal of community.
The neighbourhood design on the contrary, is based on the principle of integrating land uses within a cluster of buildings or group of settlements called neighbourhoods at certain service radius. The idea of service radius is to create a form of convenience, flexibility and fairness in the distribution of uses within the neigbourhood. While some households may be closer to some activities others are farther from it, yet they enjoy a form of equity in the location of facilities and services. But arguing about these things is wanting to have everything at your door step in the name of feminism. The fact that women have to worry about some issues like the high steps outside their front door and other women unfriendly designs are why we need female professionals in the field.
The provision of childcare facilities within the built environment should also be integrated into housing design to ensure women participation in the development of the society, as well as given them a sense of belonging. Planning principles and standards should be enshrined into the building by-laws (codes) and should form the basis for vetting building plans and land use subdivisions by physical planning authorities.
...written by NNADILI IFEANYI PETER
A graduate of urban and Regional Planning from the AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY and a graduate member Nigerian Institute of Management (GMNIM).
A REVIEW OF CHAPTER 24 OF THE BOOK "WOMAN IN THE CITY OF MAN".
