Muse, contractors, designers. The long road of women in architecture

Abstract

The Twentieth century has been full of changes. Especially for women, deep changes concerned the way of life and the social state. No longer trapped in the private domestic space, women took possession of the public space, not just to gain a greater freedom, but also to enlarge project opportunities. Women are no more inspiring muses or customers, but “authors” and space designers too. The limits of the research field enlarged, including planning and urban studies. Anyway, a long road has to be explored.  The article outlines some of the milestones of the gender research since the early Seventies, when the new awareness of feminist consciousness opened new direction, expecially oriented towards social and cultural approach in the housing fields. Another feature concerned the women historiography, reinterpreting  the so called pioneer history just to the more recent engagement of the younger women architects.