THE GREAT DOMESTIC REVOLUTION A HISTORY OF FEMINIST ARCHITECTURE

This book provides a history of feminist architecture by revisiting the theories of several American thinkers who, as early as the 19th century, postulated that the assumption of full domestic work by women constituted one of the fundamental causes of gender inequalities. The Great Domestic Revolution reveals the strategies that have helped to challenge the way we design modern housing and cities in order to support women towards greater economic independence and thus enable social equality. Dolores Hayden analyzes the utopian and pragmatic sources of the domestic reorganization programs proposed by some feminists in the 19th century and reveals the class, race, and gender conflicts they encountered. This history of a little-known intellectual tradition in France offers a new interpretation of the history of feminism, housing and urban planning. By evoking certain visionary initiatives such as the establishment of women's cooperatives, houses without kitchens, daycare centers, shared kitchens or community dining rooms, Dolores Hayden shows how, even today, recourse to collective action can prove to be a lever of liberation for women.