Using symbolism patriarchal authorities have been making women “invisible” in public spaces for centuries. Toponyms derived from people’s names have a symbolic power to emphasize who is or should be valued in society. This article reviews the importance of streets named after people for the formation of the social and symbolic status of women in cities. Gender analysis of street names in cities of countries such as Italy, France, United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, Croatia, Netherlands, Spain, Georgia, USA, Argentina, Mexico, Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Cuba, Russian Federation, Belarus and Ukraine shows significant gender asymmetries in the street toponymy systems. This research reveals that interest in studying underrepresentation of women in urbanonyms appeared thanks not so much to the scientific community as to the activities of feminists and public figures. The idea of creating gender toponymic maps is due to the process of rethinking the social justice of urban space. Our study demonstrates the desire of women to change the “text” of the city, “writing down” the names of women worthy of collective memory. There are almost no official gender statistics on the toponymy of cities, so the authors used data presented in the media and on the web-sites of public organizations. read in PDF>>>
