Taking on the tweed suits: Reflections on the ‘How the other half lives’ and its critique of masculinist geography

Abstract

In this commentary I explore the groundbreaking interventions of Jacky Tivers’ (1978) “How the other half lives” (Area 10:4, pp. 302–306). I highlight its contribution in focusing attention on two specific issues: the underrepresentation of women as producers of geographical knowledge and the exclusion of women’s issues as a focus of geographical inquiry. I argue that the paper broke new ground in the context of British geography by demonstrating the connections between the domination of the discipline by men and what was considered legitimate geographical knowledge, as well as by demanding that the latter be addressed through the explicit study of the geography of women and gender relations.