Click here for the most recent publications on this subject.
"Gender Dynamics in Planning Workplaces,” Planning with a Gender Lens Issue Brief, by Turesky, M. Warner, M.E. 2018.
Research in the News:
Planning Livable Communities for ALL Ages. Webinar for World Planning Day, Nov 8, 2017. To see the webinar go to https://www.planning.org/international/worldtown/ Dr. Warner’s presentation begins about 17 minutes in on the audio/video file. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=Pa46IYFz9dM
September 2016, AARP Interview with Mildred Warner: Land Use Planning through an Aging and Gender Lens.
"Cities Aren’t Designed For Women. Here’s Why They Should Be." by Kate Abbey-Lambertz in the Huffington Post, April 2016. Profiling work from Micklow, Kancilia, and Warner, 2015.
"Multigen Families: On the Rise." by Pooja Bhatia in OZY, August 2014. Profiling work from Micklow and Warner, 2014.
Summary of 2014 National Survey Results on Planning for Women and Aging.
“The Need to Plan for Women,” Planning with a Gender Lens Issue Brief, by Micklow, A. Kancilia, B. Warner, M.E. 2015.
"Not Your Mother's Suburb: Remaking Communities for a More Diverse Population" (Micklow and Warner 2014) Population profiled on OZY. Click here to read.
Planning through a Gender Lens: Summary of Focus Groups 2014
By: Collenne Wider & Shannon Bush, Cornell University’s Women’s Planning Forum
A fourteen-week collaboration between the APA’s Women in Planning Division and ten graduate students of Cornell University’s City and Regional Planning Department led to engaging and lively public discussions at the recent annual conference in Atlanta, GA. Working under the guidance of Professor Mildred Warner, students engaged in thoughtful exploration of the Planner’s role in Gender & Aging in a seminar-style course, designed a preliminary survey based on initial perceptions, and later took it to the APA Conference for further professional deliberation. Small focus groups representing a spectrum of age, background, gender, race, etc. together examined thought-provoking questions such as “What is a gender lens”, “How do we apply it in practice”, and “How do we measure and celebrate success?” The conversations that ensued opened the eyes and minds of professionals and students-alike.
Through the discussion, ‘representation’ emerged as a major theme guiding office politics and public perception. A number of anecdotes recounted by the participants illustrated the impact that gender has on planners.
The participants unanimously agreed that women, particularly the younger ones in an office, are responsible for organizing the social activities of the office. They contended that if women did not do this, accomplishments and milestones would go unrecognized. Women, not men, are expected to carry out social responsibilities within the workplace.
For planners, representation extends beyond the office and into the public realm, particularly through community meetings. Participants in the discussion felt that differences in gender changed how a community received a planner. In community meetings, for example, participants felt that the public regarded female planners as more approachable, feeling comfortable asking women for clarification on particular planning terms or talking with them after the meeting. One participant felt that her community received her better than her male coworkers because they view women as more nurturing and sympathetic. One participant described an instance where she was deliberately “put out front” by her office when she was asked to participate in the interview process in order to show the gender inclusivity of the office. Her office used her presence to deliberately convey a “female-friendly” atmosphere, not just “a room full of men in suits.”
Gender also influences how planners view their communities. Interestingly, the participants believed that people attending public meetings acted differently based on gender: women tended to be more attentive and focused on the overall plan, whereas men got to the details and raised specific questions. The facilitated discussion illustrated how representation and perception of different genders significantly shape the workplace environments that planners face, and that communities and planners alike view one another based on gender.
Our Partners
APA, Planning and Women Division Tweet: @APAPWD
Women's Planning Forum, Cornell University Tweet: @CornellWPF
Additional Publications
Madfis, Haylee. 2013. "The Planning Gender Gap." Issue Brief. Ithaca, NY: Department of City and Regional Planning, Cornell University.
Adriance, Shira 2009 To Gender or Not to Gender: An Analysis of Economic Impact Reports of the Child Care Sector. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University.
Pratt, James. 2009. Valuing Nonmarket Family Care Time Using National Income Accounts and the American Time Use Survey, Cornell University.