Unfolding the Archives #9 Feminist Perspectives 1980 - 1990

‘Women and Housing’ working group

Danie Staut (b. 1950), an architect and spatial planner, founded the Architects’ Working Group with b0b Van Reeth in 1974. After their collaboration, she became active at the Leuven Women’s House, where she established the ‘Women and Housing’ working group in 1981. As an educator at the Elcker-Ik Leuven adult education centre, she organised the national study day ‘Housing and the living environment from a woman’s perspective’ in 1984 and taught the ‘Space for women’ course, among others.

Els Huigens (b. 1954), a landscape architect and spatial planner, gave lectures on ‘The liveability of the city’ at the Women’s House in Roeselare and other venues. In the 1990s, she developed social safety checklists for Minister Miet Smet: how do you make a station safe? A social housing estate? A street, a square? This commitment that ultimately took shape in her office, Fris in ‘t Landschap.

Gerd Van Limbergen (b. 1955), an educator, was active in the Groep Rooie Vrouwen (GROV) [Red Women’s Group], a socialist-feminist action group in Antwerp. She worked at the Vluchthuis Tamar [Tamar Refuge] and, as a staff member at Elcker-Ik Antwerp, organized study days, film evenings, reading groups, and other activities centred on feminism.

Leen De Becker (b. 1957), an interior architect, was already active as a student at Vluchthuis Mechelen, a shelter for women fleeing domestic violence. Through her involvement in the broader feminist-socialist movement, she participated in several activities of the ‘Women and Housing’ working group. Later, she worked on housing projects in Nicaragua and was active as a community worker in Brussels-North and the Seefhoek in Antwerp.