Gender and eco-domesticity: Are sustainable consumption and a return to the home emancipatory in Czechia?

Abstract

Recently, there has been renewed interest in homemaking and domestic practices and the revival of domesticity has become related with pro-environmental values and sustainable lifestyles in Western societies. The turn to domesticity tends to be associated with women. While some authors warn of a return to traditional gender roles within the household, others view eco-domesticity as a feminist project that values domestic practices. This article considers the gender-specific aspects of the revival in a post-socialist country and focuses on the gendered aspects of new domesticity. Specifically, it studies the gendered discourses and practices within eco-domesticity in Czechia, which include sustainable consumption, green prosumption and alternative parenting practices. Can the eco-conscious reclaiming of domesticity be viewed as a new form of feminism in Czechia? The study is based on a qualitative sociological research using in-depth interviews, participant observation and media analyses. It is argued here that this new 21st-century domesticity should be understood through the context of the Czech state’s lengthy maternity/parental leave period, which leads to temporary domesticity. The examples of active fathers and self-reliant mothers undermine the traditional division of labour. Caring roles among men in the family are highly valued in eco-domesticity, and alternative gender roles are part of alternative sustainable lifestyles. Care in the home expands to collective activities of parents in community centres and other community projects and decreases the isolation of parents at home. Although inspired by trends from abroad, informants do not perceive eco-domesticity to be a new wave of feminism in Czechia.