Hi, I am preparing a class on women and housing that will
be offered by both the art history and women's studies departments. The premise
of the course is to analyze ways women have approached housing design in relationship
to mainstream housing, or the types of housing we tend to live in. The material
covered will include C. Beecher's designs, C. Frederick's various ideas about
efficiency, communal housing/kitchens, appliances, and domestic science.
As an architectural historian I have a good, strong selection
of material from architectural history and design. I also have a few readings
from literature, such as Gilman's _The Yellow Wallpaper_.
But the class is a little week on readings from women studies
about housing. I would appreciate any suggestions.
Responses:
Ardener, Shirley , Ed. _Women and Space: Ground
Rules and Social Maps_ (Berg Publishers, Providence, RI, 1993).
Bush, Corlann G. "The Barn is His, the House is Mine:
Agricultural Technology and Sex Roles" in _Energy and Transport: Historical
Perspectives on Policy Issues_ Daniels, Geo. H and Mark H. Rose, Eds. (Beverly
Hills, Sage Publications, 1982).
Cowan, Ruth Schwartz _More Work for Mother_(Basic Books,
1983).
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins _The Home, Its Work and Influence_(1902)
Graham, Laurel "Domesticating Scientific Management"
in _Managing on Her Own_(Norcross, GA., Engineering and Management Press, 1998).
Grosz, Elizabeth _Space, Time and Perversion: Essays
on the Politics of Bodies_(Routledge, NY, 1995) Esp. Chap.7 "Women, Chora, Dwelling,"
and Chap. 8 "Architecture from the Outside."
Hayden, Dolores _The Grand Domestic Revolution_
____________ _Redesigning the American Dream_
Marsh, Margaret _Suburban Lives_
Radford, Gail _Modern Housing for America_
The chapter on Catherine Bauer and the Modern Housing Movement (1930s)
Weisman, Leslie Kanes _Discrimination by Design: A Feminist
Critique of the Man-made Environment_(U of Illinois Press, 1992. 1-800-545-1703)
Wright, Gwendolyn _Building the Dream_
Other Suggestions:
Article on cnn.com on women designing furniture for houses
and office spaces
MS. Magazine...recent article (Dec. 99/Jan.00) about female
architects
Sheltering Ourselves: A Women's Learning Exchange (SOWLE)
contact c/o The Women's Research and Development Center, 727 Ezzard Charles
Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45203 Website at http://members.aol.com/dectire/SO-WLE.htm
Short story "The Revolt of 'Mother' " by Mary Wilkes Freeman,
1891 in Vol. II of the Health Anthology of American Lit.
The work of Lillian Gilbreth, a "real" management engineer;
she extended her 1930s ideas on "motion study in the home" to the 1940s and
1950s kitchens for disabled women
Sally McMurry has written numerous things on women and the
history of farm houses