The researcher of the Universidad Católica del Maule, Paula Rodríguez, will lead a debate on urban discrimination and spatial justice, in a conference to be held by the center of multidisciplinary studies Urbes-Lab in Peru.
As a contribution to the democratization of cities and their redefinition as inclusive spaces, without phobias or discrimination, the PhD in Social Sciences Paula Rodriguez described the conference «Insurgent Urban Territorial Practices», which will take place in Peru in 2024.
The academic from the Center for Research and Advanced Studies of Maule (CIEAM), belonging to UCM, will lead one of the thirteen panels of the meeting, together with the researcher of SUR Corporación, Nicolás Méndez.
«Our interest is to study and broaden the conversations. LGBT+ people see their rights to the city violated, for example, in leases, where they are discriminated against because of how they dress, how they speak or the type of family they make up. This discrimination is penalized by law, but there is a cultural practice that escapes the legal sphere and makes these people unable to access housing and suffer minority stress, which affects the psyche and human, emotional and social relationships», said the social scientist.
A survey conducted by Méndez and the Núcleo de Estudios Urbanos Sexogenéricos Disidentes (Neusdi), on housing tenure through subsidized channels for LGBT+ people, revealed that 51% of those who identify themselves as sexual and gender dissidents live as neighbors and 77% live in rented homes, without the ownership of the contract.
«To overcome gaps, the first thing is to have reliable information and for this what is suggested is to overcome the binary questions, male and female, and incorporate the category of intersectionality or intersectional, which helps to deepen the analysis of the production of space and the resolution of Human Rights, because it accounts for the existence of different systems of domination and oppression, such as systems based on sex, gender, race and class,» added Rodriguez.
The conference will take place on March 11 and 14 next year in Lima, under a hybrid modality. Those who wish to participate with their reflections in the panel «Generation of LGBT+ data with citizen participation for urban non-discrimination and the promotion of spatial justice», have until October 23 to send their work through the website https://ciur2024.urbeslab.com/.