Geographic Perspectives on Women
Geography in America at the Dawn of the 21st Century, 2004
Since its inception in the mid-1970s, feminist geography has significantly impacted the disciplin... more Since its inception in the mid-1970s, feminist geography has significantly impacted the discipline. Open nearly any human geography textbook, review course offerings in most of the top geography programs, or examine recent publications by well-known human geographers and you will discover the influence of gender and feminist perspectives. This has not always been the case, however. In the previous volume of Geography in America, the chapter written for the Geographic Perspectives on Women (GPOW) specialty group noted that until recently, geography was written as if “men were representative of the species” (Gruntfest 1989: 673). Many areas of the discipline have gone beyond this approach and are beginning to recognize the role of gender in human spatial behavior. This chapter draws from the foundations of feminist geography that highlight the role of women in geographical analysis before focusing on the multiple voices and variety of perspectives that comprise this area of the discip...