Topological production of domesticity

gender roles in heteroparental family units with different socio-spatial situations in Santiago de Chile

Abstract

The objective of this research is to understand the spaces produced in domesticity, taking into account gender roles as a determining structure in the distribution, and execution of the domestic tasks of the subjects, which are the basis of the organization of the family nucleus in the construction of their micro geographies.
Through the use of qualitative methodology, this research linked to the geography of gender has sought to analyze in a situated context each of the cases consulted, thus promoting the emergence of categories and spatial experiences of each one of them. Being studied four family nuclei of two different socioeconomic groups (medium and high) with different dynamics of absence in the home (high and low). 
The results of the study show the inequality between women and men in the family environment when it comes to participation in household chores and childcare, as well as the spatial limitations that subjects have when it comes to leisure and the comprehensive development of children. These limitations are overcome only through personal networks generated by families, revealing economic limitations and the activation of personal networks as the only possibility of support.