1. Gender, divorce and housing – a life course perspective.
- Author
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Feijten, Peteke and Mulder, Clara H.
- Abstract
The basic notion of housing is universal: a house provides shelter and a safe haven around which people's private lives evolve. But `housing΄ also has gendered connotations. The feminine aspect of housing centres around domesticity, while the masculine aspect is about the house as a building: the physical unit where a man accommodates his family. For women, traditionally, the house is the centre of her life, while for men, worklife outside the house marks his identity. This gendered view on housing is also expressed through gendered contributions to the housing situation. Men usually pay for the house (mortgage or rent), while women run the household. In addition, men take care of most of the maintenance of the dwelling, while women mostly take care of the decoration and the internal upkeep. With de-traditionalisation of society due to increasing female labour market participation and the rise of gender-egalitarian attitudes, these notions may have lost some of their significance, but the gendered image of housing is still strong and widely shared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2010
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