Slums have come to include the vast informal settlements that are quickly becoming the most visible manifestation of urban poverty in developing world cities
Today, globally one in every three city resident is a slum dweller
Women – who constitute the majority of world’s lowest income earners – often find it very difficult to afford adequate housing in the urban context
Women and Housing Rights WOMEN, SLUMS and URBANISATION: Women’s Housing Rights in the Urban Context the reasons why women migrate to the cities, and women face similar challenges to their daily survival in slums all across the world.
In 2008, the world has reached an invisible but momentous milestone: For the first time in history, more than half its human population, or over three billion persons, is living in urban areas. By 2030, this number is expected to swell to nearly five billion. There are important gender dimensions to the phenomenon of urbanisation. While women’s experiences are not monolithic, there are similarities in
The actual triggers for women’s migration to the cities are often related to patterns of gender-based discrimination and violence which serve to push them deeper into poverty or which otherwise land them in a crisis situation. For women, as well as for men, the city’s primary attraction is the possibility of economic opportunities unavailable to them in other areas. Yet, women whose economic situation suddenly worsens as a result of disinheritance, divorce or domestic violence cannot be said to be moving to urban centres out of a ‘gender-neutral’ desire to work. Similarly, while inadequate living conditions in the slums affect all residents, female or male, women and girls suffer dispropor-
tionately those burdens which fall on their shoulders because of their gender. Violence, inadequate provision of services, housing insecurity, a lack of privacy, employment discrimination, and unequal remuneration all are common experiences with profoundly gendered dimensions. Unequal gender relations burden women with and ever greater share of daily responsibilities. Women are disproportionately responsible for of taking care of children and running the households, which makes them generally less mobile than men. They are also often less educated than men, which limits their income-earning opportunities. Women are often deprived of their legal rights, and in many places a woman’s right to own property is vested with their husband or male relative. In addition, women living in slums are repeatedly vulnerable to forced evictions by public or private actors, and all too often face genderbased violence in the process.
For urban poor women, the problems stemming from living in slums are especially acute. Slums across the world lack basic infrastructure, services, and adequate housing, including lack of basic security of tenure. Women are the ones who tend to spend more of their time at home, and hence are more susceptible to health and safety hazards due to overpopulation, insufficient or remote basic services, poor drainage, and lack of proper sanitation and waste disposal systems.
governments have a duty to address violations of human rights – in this case, of women’s human rights – which, at times, underlie migration in the first place and which similarly prohibit women from realising their human rights within the urban context.
In an era of increasing urbanisation, women must be able to take their rightful place in the city, as fully equal citizens able to live in dignity, peace, and security. Governments throughout the world must rise to the challenge posed by urbanisation and the growth of slum communities. The answer is not to discourage migration to the cities, nor is it to try and reverse the clock. Rather,
In order to ensure women’s housing rights in the context of urbanisation, national legal protections for women’s housing rights should also be strengthened, recognising women’s rights to non-discrimination and equality. To address the immediate needs of women, States should provide legal security of tenure to all people living in slums, including women and their families.
States should also combat violence against women in all its forms, and provide effective legal and other remedies to victims of gender-based violence. Slum upgrading programmes and housing development programmes for the poor should ensure women’s effective participation, so that women are able to truly benefit from these activities. In particular, it is critical to ensure joint ownership of and control over housing, land and property, as well as equal rights between men and women in marriage. States should fight against women’s poverty and provide economic empowerment opportunities to poor and disadvantaged women. Special efforts should be made to empower women economically and to design projects that will allow women to access well-paying jobs, credit, loans, and other schemes that will permit them to raise their standard of living and access adequate housing. as well as improve access to basic services, such as water, sanitation and electricity, and provide safer environments for women living in the slums.