The Meaning of Second Homes to Taiwanese Women
Date Issued
2006
Date
2006
Author(s)
Chen, Ya-Lien
DOI
zh-TW
Abstract
Second home ownership is common in developed countries, especially North Europe. This kind of life style also figures in Taiwan now with the change of personal demands and housing concepts. In this study, I take second home as another "home" to understand women's home experience in another context.
The association of home with women and femininity is so commonplace that it is often considered natural. As a geographer, I am certainly curious about this most "feminine" space. Using a feminist perspective, I argue the masculinist notion of home in humanistic studies because they erase women from their ideal home.
By conducting interviews of eleven middle class women, who have some common characteristics such as being middle-aged women, with advanced education and a handsome salary, I found that second homes could be a good option for them to release their pressure from both outside and inside of home. And second homes can satisfy their images of the perfect home, too. However, the conception of home mentioned above is deep-rooted and seems "natural" to women and their family members. Women are still affected by traditional ideas and other people in their second homes. This shows that second homes sometimes do not really mean a personal place belonging to women, but just a copy of traditional home.
From this study, I inspect the meaning of second homes to Taiwanese women and discuss their experience of purchasing and using second homes. By the restructure space-- second homes, it can reflect both spacial release and traditional constraint within home and make women's experience visible.
Subjects
別居
家
女性主義
second home
home
feminism
humanistic geography
SDGs
Type
thesis