Gender Relations in Suburbia

Abstract

This research examines the question if residence in a suburban area affects gender relations through imposing constraints on women’s day-to-day life – despite the social impact of post-Fordism and post-Socialism. One can assume gender-specific differences since suburban residential areas have been labelled as “women-unfriendly” for decades. Ten study areas have been chosen within Berlin’s Suburbia with the objective to establish if any and what particular course of action is available to female residents to compensate the likely constraints. The interplay between gender, residence area and individual action in the realms of work, mobility and social capital has been investigated. The empirical analysis proves that the lack of employment sites available for women in the vicinity of the place of their residence comes into collision with women’s paramount role in reproductive labour and results in evident constraints imposed on the majority of female suburban residents. Different patterns of socialisation were found to play an essential role in the works as well as in the mobility practices, since people of the East- or the West-German origin seem still to be shaped by the respective society models. Additionally, it will be focussed on the question if constraints on work and mobility can be compensated through the resources of social capital.