Feminine names in current Romanian hodonymy

Abstract

This study aims to map the gender politics of contemporary Romanian street naming. Hodonyms mirror mentalities and the ideas prevailing in a society. Urban microtoponimy is an androcentric one, as public life has belonged, throughout history, almost exclusively to men. Women emerged from the private and domestic spheres only in the nineteenth century, and this justifies, in a way, the much smaller number of street names that are claimed by female names. The recognition of women’s role in society and their commemoration through hodonyms can function as a reparative act of balancing the power and influence asymmetries.