The Gendered right to public spaces in higher education: a case study of university of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka

Abstract

The study explores the gendering of public spaces within universities, and its effect on women’s right to the space in terms of access and use and particularly, gendered agency as a collective response toward restrictions imposed. Grounded in a feminist perspective, it examines how power dynamics of gender are embedded in space, often reinforcing public-private divisions and sustaining spatial inequalities. Historically, universities were male-only domains, where spatial segregation denied women both education and access to public space. The study questions the extent of spatial equality in educational spaces, particularly in contexts shaped by masculinist notions. Using a conceptual framework based on social and spatial attributes of public space, the study assesses how these characteristics contribute to gendering. Accessibility was inquired as a measure of gendered effects while, women’s gendered agency as a retaliation towards posed restrictions, were studied with embodied agency and strategies that they employ. A mixed-method approach was utilized in order to understand the experiential perspective of students and their validity. The findings reveal that gendering of space reinforces systemic oppression of women within societal structures, limiting their freedom. However, rather than yielding to such restrictions, women actively and strategically navigate these obstacles, employing adaptive behaviours and subtle resistance to assert their presence and agency.