The Feminine Reading Room: a separate space for women in a Portuguese public library

Abstract

A quasi-fictional narrative, is constructed from the public event of the inauguration of the Feminine Reading Room in Porto Municipal Public Library, in 1945,
based upon historical and sociological research. Biographical and historical data are crossed with those from literature, photography, and interviews to rebuild a holistic
context of events within the frame of a qualitative approach, aiming to understand the significance of the use of such semi-public spaces by women. The invisibilisation of the
presence of women is interpreted on the basis of women's status, shaped, in its turn, by local and historical situations. This case illustrates how separate, women-only spaces
contributed to processes of women's appropriation of public space.