Weaving architecture: a study of women's role in the vernacular architecture of the Cordilleras

Abstract

The aspect of gender in the study and analysis of vernacular architecture has often been overlooked for more popular categories such as methods of construction, motifs and ornamentation. But gender being in itself a social and cultural construct, becomes an essential, even basic notion to which architecture should be studied. It provides yet another contextual framework that will bring understanding to the socio-cultural dynamics and the power relations that inform architecture as a whole. The study is focused on the weaving communities of the Northern Cordillera tribes of the Philippines as case studies, as it primarily establishes women's status, their economic and cultural role in these indigenous societies. As weaving is an activity closely associated with women, the paper attempts to shed light on the correlation between gender roles and the spatial organization within the domestic setting, and the extent of women's participation and involvement in the decision-making process of building the home and ultimately the community. A survey among the households in the Cordillera shows how interior spaces in indigenous houses and community spaces in traditional settlements reflect how gender has become a factor in the appropriation of both private and public spaces.