Written by some of Canada's top researchers in the field, thearticles in this collection introduce a new chapter in feministliterature, focusing on women and their experiences in Canadian urbansettings and illustrating the importance of gender in the developmentof urban areas. While the articles represent diverse approaches andmethodologies, they all point out that the specific needs of women arenot being met and that women must create opportunities for democraticparticipation in the institutions that affect their lives.
In the introduction, the editors develop the broad area of genderrelations in urban society and describe how this field of study hasevolved in Canada. The following seven chapters deal with women'sexperiences in the city, emphasizing the complex interrelations betweenindividuals and their environments. Three main themes stand out in thebook -- the changing relationships between women's roles as paidlabour and in the household; the interconnection between public andprivate activities; and the way our understanding of these is linked tochanging urban milieux.
Specific policy areas, particularly housing but also leisure,recreation, and transportation, are examined by some of thecontributors, while in the concluding chapter the editors discussdirections for further study and suggest appropriate research methods.The annotated bibliography -- in itself a major contribution to thefield -- will prove invaluable to future scholars.
This book is an extremely welcome addition to the growing multi-disciplinary literature on gender and urban environments.
I would recommend that this text be ordered, read, and recommended to students since it touches on interesting and important issues and generates some new theoretical questions ... The last chapter by the two editors is an interesting exploration of the research consequences of the desire by researchers in the field both to understand and to change current affairs. Part of this discussion addresses important questions of feminist methodologies and the need to develop new ways of doing research.
Introduction / Caroline Andrew and Beth Moore Milroy
1. Building Women, Building Cities: Toward Gender Sensitive Theoryin Environmental Disciplines / Suzanne MacKenzie
2. Women Workers and the Inner City: Some Implications of LabourForce Restructuring in Montreal, 1971-81 / Damaris Rose and PaulVilleneuve, with Fiona Colgan
3. Practical Idealism: Women in Urban Reform, Julia Drummond and theMontreal Parks and Playgrounds Association / Jeanne M. Wolfe andGrace Strachan
4. Divergent Convergence: The Daily Routines of Employed Spouses asa Public Affairs Agenda / William Michelson
5. Canadian Women's Housing Cooperatives: Case Studies inPhysical and Social Innovation / Gerda R. Wekerle
6. New Families, New Housing Needs, New Urban Environments: The Caseof Single-Parent Families / Fran Klodawsky and AaronSpector
7. Interacting with the Urban Environment: Two Case Studies ofWomen's and Female Adolescents' Leisure Activities / DenisePiche
8. Gender-Specific Approaches to Theory and Method / Beth MooreMilroy and Caroline Andrew
Annotated Bibliography / Beth Moore Milroy and Caroline Andrew,assisted by Susan Montonen
