Panelists: Dr. Rihab Khalid and Dr. Hadia Majid

Where: Live on LUMS Facebook

They say that the house is the ultimate domain of women, but are contemporary houses really designed for women? This is the question Dr. Rihab Khalid and Dr. Hadia Majid explored in this talk. Looking at the research of Dr. Khalid, they discussed some of the impacts of current spatial configurations and household technologies on women’s domestic energy and space-use. Drawing on interviews with middleclass homeowners in Lahore and Amman, Dr. Rihab Khalid unpacked some of the critical factors that result in women’s differential agencies, spatial affordances, and contingent flexibilities in managing domestic energy demand. The speakers also discussed how the current gender-neutral/binary approaches in housing and energy calls for further socio-technical investigations at the intersections of gender, energy and space-use for improved equity and sustainability.