Advancement Towards Spatial Justice: The Barrier-Free Environment Construction from a Gender Perspective

ZHANG Wanhong & ZHAO Jinxi

Abstract: Space is both a product and a producer of social relations. In the spatial domain, gender blindness has long existed, limiting women's rights of access to and use of space, leading to structural oppression of women's rights, and giving rise to new gender inequalities. The barrier-free environment construction has the functions of eliminating physical barriers and generating societal norms, and when combined with social changes, can facilitate justice correction across multiple dimensions. However, barrier-free environment construction itself, as a means of justice correction, also suffers from gender blindness. There remains room for improvement in the areas of facility construction, information exchange, and social services within the realm of barrier-free environments. In response to this phenomenon, gender equality offers a new critical perspective. Therefore, integrating a gender perspective into the barrier-free environment construction, focusing on the spatial rights of women, especially groups with multiple vulnerabilities, such as disabled women and elderly women, can contribute to the advancement towards spatial justice.

Keywords: barrier-free environment construction · gender equality · spatial justice · multiple vulnerabilities