Feminist Geography

Geography is often thought of as the study of the continents and maps. While this is a rudimentary understanding of the subject, geography is actually divided into physical and human geography. Human geography, as one of the social sciences, emphasizes the relationships among people and culture across space and time. Feminist geography is a subset of human geography, one that applies feminist theory to studying human environment.

One of the primary areas of study in feminist geography are the effects of gender inequality. The 1984 book Geography and Gender: An Introduction to Feminist Geography, is often cited as the foundational text of feminist geography, with the authors focusing on both the activities of women and how patriarchy determines how spatial relationships are worked out and contribute to the oppression of women.

While feminist geographers study the same things as other geographers, they place special emphasis on gender divisions in the world. There are three main areas of research in feminist geography today. This first involves the differences in the construction of gender, through race, ethnicity, religion, age, sexuality and nationality. The second revolves around greater understanding of how gender relations and identities are formed. The third area involves the differences between relativism and situated knowledge.