Gender geographies
Understanding inequalities of access to spaces of paid work: The intersection of gender and ethnicity
Duration: 2011-2013
(Funding: SNF, NRP 60; Yvonne Riaño & Doris Wastl-Walter (PL) Dep. of Geography, University of Bern; André Aschwanden & Katharina Limacher Dep. of Geography, University of Bern; Elisabeth Bühler, University of Zurich)
This joint research project between the geography departments of the universities of Zurich and Bern (PL Bern) is carried out in the framework of the National Research Program NRP 60 ‘Gender Equality’. An important aim is to understand how women’s access to the labour market is related to the various arrangements made with their household partners regarding division of housework and paid employment. Three sets of questions will be examined in order to contribute to a better understanding of the intersection of gender and ethnicity creating different situations of inequality in the field of work: (a) how the intersection of gender and ethnicity/national origin generates unequal access to paid employment; (b) the extent to which individuals succeed in applying, maintaining and further developing their professional qualifications in the labour market, (c) the strategies that individuals devise to apply and acquire new professional qualifications. The analysis will combine macro- and micro perspectives and apply quantitative and qualitative methods. See Abstract (pdf: 130KB (PDF, 127 Kb))
Sustainable design, management and appropriation of urban public parks
2005-2010
(Funding SNF: NFP 54; Elisabeth Bühler, Heidi Kaspar, Frank Ostermann, Sabine Timpf)
Public parks are an element of the built environment. It is justified to attribute them a high social sustainability potential. As nature-oriented green and free spaces they contribute to the quality of life in cities in many ways. As public spaces, parks are principally accessible to everyone in today’s democratic societies. However, the normative logics of equal access do not mean that de facto no processes of social exclusion are taking place in public free spaces. This project investigates, how neighbourhood parks in the city of Zurich are appropriated by visitors and asks for processes of inclusion / exclusion. It aims at identifying elements of design and planning as well as strategies of management and operation that foster a socially sustainable appropriation of public areas.
Research database University of Zurich
Resarch report: http://www.vdf.ethz.ch/info/showDetails.asp?isbnNr=3309
Gender sensitive evaluation guidelines in design competitions for new public parks
2009-2010
(Funding: Grün Stadt Zürich und Lares; Elisabeth Bühler & Gudrun Hoppe, Zürich)
(for details, see German homepage site)
Life Plans. Young Adults caught between Individuality and Gendered Norms.
2005-2010
(Karin Schwiter)
How do young adults plan their lives? What do they expect from their futures? How do they anticipate their working careers? Do they consider having children? How would they want to organise work and care in their future families? And to what extent do their expectations (re)produce gendered norms? The study takes a discourse theoretical perspective and explores these questions by analysing narrative interviews with young adults aged 24 to 26 in the German speaking part of Switzerland.