From the altar rails to the kitchen of the vicarage: On place, space and gender
The article deals with the gendered implications of the physical environment, in particular clerical buildings such as the church and the vicarage. The empirical sources consist of biographical notes and interviews with clergymen’s wives and women clergymen.
With the vicarage of Västra Vram as an empirical example, one can assert that long time ago the rooms of the vicarage were more or less gendered, more or less private, a fact that influenced the gender division of labour in the house. Although this is not the case today, the memories of the past exist as a kind of criterion always present in the vicarage, for the clergyman and his/her family. The impact of this norm system varies from individual to individual: some clergymen’s wives are very concerned about it, others are not.
The women clergymen are to a less extent influenced by the norms of the vicarage, instead they struggle for their existence in the church building. The fact that some people do not accept their clerical vocation makes the area around the altar extremely symbolically significant and the issue of gender omnipresent. It is obvious that some of the clergymen do not hesitate to use their power of gender and position to exclude their female colleagues behind the altar.
Finally, one can note that the interpretations of certain physical milieus vary according to the frames of reference and experiences of individuals. The multifold interpretations are not stable, which means that people with no or little contacts with the church may interpret clerical buildings in other ways than my informants. The gender implications of the physical environment is, in other words, diverse and complex.
