Author: Girija Shrestha
AIT Library Call Number: AIT Diss. no.RD-00-2
Year: 2000
Academic Program: Regional and Rural Development Planning (RRDP)
Type: Thesis (Ph.D.) – Asian Institute of Technology, 2000
Examination Committee: Kyoko Kusakabe (Chairperson); Govind Kelkar, Yap Kioe Sheng, Pierre Walter(Examination Committee Members)
Abstract: Women are the main users of housing. Housing is the workplace for them to conduct both recognized and unrecognized work. Due to improperly built housing women are suffering inconvenient working conditions and facing more health hazards than men. For most people, good housing is the product of good technology and good economics. Improvement in housing is considered possible by using innovative engineering technology, new building materials, better facilities and newer domestic appliances. However, even with the use of the latest technology or within the same household, income levels in some houses are more user-friendly than others. This study tries to fill the gap in understanding additional factors which play an important role in the creation of user-friendly housing. The study relies on the hypothesis that one of the decisive factors for user-friendly housing design is equalitybased gender relations. Thus, the objective of the study is to find out the relationship between socio-cultural inequality in society and housing design. To understand these questions, three communities with different housing technology and different income levels were selected from the Kathmandu Valley. Gender Analysis tools were used as research methodology and data was gathered through a structured questionnaire survey, time-use survey, life histories and physical survey i.e. drawing of houses and base maps of communities. The empirical data on the communities showed that both women (involved or not involved in outside recognized work) spend four to seven times more time at home in unrecognized work than men do and about sixty percent more women have health hazards due to poor housing conditions. To women, such houses are not found to be user-friendly. This is not the case with regard to men. The findings of this research show the direct relationship between more egalitarian gender relations (household decision-making power) and better user-friendly housing design i.e. comfort flexible space enough rooms of good quality and afforda
Scholarship Donor(s):
Note: A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
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