Woman, Home, and the Question of Identity: a Critical Review of Feminist Literature

Abstract

Much ink has been spilled over the association of women with the material and imaginary geographies of the home. In this paper, I will discuss this association with reference to the feminist literature on the home, which, in the second half of the last century, produced a fascinating critique of the home as part of a larger debate on the connection between space and place and the construction of gender relations and ideologies. I will focus particularly on how the problem of the home in feminism has been defined as one of identity, referring to some key works in feminist literature that have put forward notions of the home as a place that women have to leave behind if they are to find their identities beyond those imposed upon them by society at large. In doing this, I will also give voice to criticisms that have been raised from within feminism itself against a totally negative depiction of the home, and discuss whether it is possible to envisage a more positive image of the home in feminism in relation to women’s identities.