Yes, Cities Can Be Sexist 

In this month’s issue of The Evidence newsletter, Josephine Lethbridge examines how city designs exacerbate gender inequalities – and what we can do to fix them.  

Leslie Kern’s realization that cities are not designed with women in mind came after she became a mother. As a young woman in Toronto, she had avoided certain areas for safety, but it was only when trying to navigate London with a baby and a pram that she considered the impact of the city’s overall design.  

Facing challenges with public transport and having difficulty finding places to nurse her child, she felt unwelcome in urban areas. “I suddenly realized – oh – the city is really trying to tell me: ‘You’re a new mom with a baby, you should be at home’.”  

The idea that urban design can have discriminatory effects has recently gained recognition, especially in Europe. Cities like Vienna and Barcelona are leading in gender-sensitive urban design, and Nantes aims to become France’s first “non-sexist” city by 2030.  

Kern’s book, Feminist City: Claiming Space in a Man-Made World, explores how cities have historically been designed by men in power, prioritizing their needs. This has real consequences, with one survey finding that 47 percent of women in Jordan had declined a job due to inadequate public transport and concerns about harassment.  

Women also experience higher stress from lack of green space and face challenges with public toilets not designed for their needs. 

What can we do about it? 

To counter these issues, involving women and marginalized groups at every stage of urban planning is crucial, argues Lethbridge. 

Though there is no definitive answer to what a feminist city looks like, common themes include improving pavement size, street furniture, and lighting.  

For Kern, such feminist interventions are attempts to rehumanize our cityscapes. She observes that “many cities have become very car-dominated for the last 60 years. Space for pedestrians has shrunk as space for cars and commercial spaces have grown.” 

With DEI policies attracting backlash, Kern suggests that focusing on the rehumanizing aspects of feminist urban planning may help to win over skeptics, making spaces better for everyone and creating more vibrant and livable urban environments.  

Read this month’s full newsletter to learn how we can advocate for better urban planning in our communities, workplaces, and in policy. An archive of past issues can be accessed through Social Science Space.