Gender implications of space use in home-based work: evidences from slums in Bangladesh

This paper examines the use of space in home-based work in slums in Bangladesh to understand urban poor womenʹs involvement in relation to men. While womenʹs access and use of spaces are restricted by social practice, their income generation initiatives are further affected by settlement specific factors. As a consequence, womenʹs direct and indirect dependence on men emerges. This male–female involvement takes place not only to mutually share the activities of home-based work for operational conveniences but also to supplement a given householdʹs effort to pool income for its survival on a daily basis. Besides cooperation, this involvement also indicates a conflict, manifested by womenʹs absence in the public realm and intra-household transfer of credit. This paper suggests that future inter-sectoral interventions should respond critically to this occurrence of cooperation and conflict to contribute to raising womenʹs status within a given household.