un--habitat 2010 gender equality for smarter cities-- challenges and progress, hs--1250--09e, un...

7/28/2019 UN--HABITAT 2010 Gender Equality for Smarter Cities-- Challenges and Progress, HS--1250--09E, UN Human Settle

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GENDER EQUALITY

FOR SMARTER CITIESC h P


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GENDER EQUALITY FOR SMARTER CITIES

Copyright United Nations Human Settlements Programme

(UN-HABITAT ) 2010

All rights reservedUnited Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT)

P.O. Box 30030, GPO Nairobi 00100, KenyaTel: +254-20-7623120Fax: +254-20-7623477/4266/4267E-mail: [email protected]

Website: http://www.unhabitat.org/

HS/1250/09EISBN: 978-92-1-132213-2

Cover Photos: Manoocher Deghati/IRIN1 (top), Caylee Hong (bottom row, 1st two photos), UN-HABITAT (bottom tow, 3rd photo)

dIsClaIMer

e designations employed and the presentation of the material in this report do not imply the expression of anyopinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country,territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries, or regarding itseconomic system or degree of development. e analysis, conclusions, and recommendations of this report do not

necessarily reect the views of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme or its Governing Council.

aCKnoWledgeMenTs

Principal Author: Emily WongPrincipal Editors: Lucia Kiwala, ierry Naudin and Roman Rollnick

Additional Editorial Input: Cecilia Andersson, Bernhard Barth, Hawa Diallo, Angela Hakizimana, MoniqueIglebaek, Mutinta Munyati, Angela Mwai, Cilla Ng, Asa Jonsson, Avi Sarkar, Wandia Seaforth, Sudha Shresthaand Edlam YemeruDesign and Layout: Irene Juma

Sponsor: Government of NorwayPrinting: UNON, Publishing Services Section, Nairobi, ISO 14001:2004-certied.i

1Integrated Regional Inormation Networks (IRIN) is a humanitarian news and analysis service and part o the UN Ofce or the Coordinationo Humanitarian Aairs. More inormation is available on www.irinews.org.


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ChALLENGES AND PROGRESS

We live in an increasingly urban world

where providing healthy and safe livingenvironments, productive economies

and equitable social benets are challenges facingtowns and cities globally. Today, just over half the

worlds people live in urban areas, and we expect thepercentage of urban dwellers to rise to 70 per centby 2050. An important dimension of urban life isthe condition of women in towns and cities; it is acondition marked by historical exclusion and multipledeprivations.

is publication serves two purposes. First, ithighlights the major gender issues we face in thecontext of urbanisation. Second, it provides anoverview of the various eorts deployed by UN-HABITAT to promote gender equality in all itsendeavours and programmes. is is in fullmentof international agreements, including the Habitat

Agenda, the Convention on Elimination of AllForms of Discrimination against Women, theBeijing Platform for Action, and the MillenniumDevelopment Goals, the third of which is to promotegender equality and empower women.

One in three people in cities of the developing worldlives in a slum. Although conditions vary, research

shows that women and girls often suer the worsteects of slum life, such as poor access to clean water,inadequate sanitation, unemployment, insecurity oftenure and gender-based violence (exacerbated at homeby stressful and over-crowded living conditions, and inpublic areas by poor security and eviction threats).

On the whole, governments and policy makers arestill responding inadequately to dierent gender needs

in towns and cities. With time, this deepens thedisadvantages for women and girls. It denies theman equal voice to bring about improvements in theircommunities, and holds back the full potential forsocial and economic development in their countries.With global threats such as climate change and globalrecession, never has there been a greater urgency todevelop innovative interventions.

Still, and as outlined in this publication there is alsosubstantial progress on improving gender equality

in cities and local governance. is goes to showthat strategic and targeted programmes and activitiescan, indeed, advance both gender equality andsustainable urbanisation in mutually reinforcingways. In this respect, UN-HABITAT stands at theforefront of initiatives to sustain past gains and futuremomentumwith strong support from donors, thepolitical will of governments and fruitful cooperationwith other United Nations agencies, civil society,central and local governments and the private sector.

In 2010, as world representatives meet to review

progress on the implementation of the BeijingPlatform for Action (Beijing+15), special attentionshould be paid to urbanisation and the impact ofurban poverty on women.

Lastly, I would like to express my sincere gratitudeto the Governments of Norway, Sweden, Spain,Germany, the Netherlands and Canada for fundinggender mainstreaming activities at UN-HABITAT.

Dr. Anna K. TibaijukaExecutive Director, UN-HABITAT

FOREWORD


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Photo Manoocher Deghati/IRIN, Dhaka, 2007


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Foreword iii

Introduction 1

Turning Rights into Reality 3

Gender, Land and Housing 4

Womens Entrepreneurship and Housing Finance 7

Improving Urban Environments and Opportunities 11

Safer Cities for All 12

Gender in Water and Sanitation 15

Opportunities for Young Women and Men 18

Giving Voice and Visibility to Gender 21

Gender Equality and Disaster Management 22

Gender, Natural Disasters and Climate Change 24

Advocacy, Monitoring and Research 25

Building Capacity for Good Governance 28

Bridging the Gender Divide: e Gender Equality Action Plan 31

TAbLE OF CONTENTS


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Women represent a large proportion of te poor wo look to cities for a etter life.

Photo UN-HABITAT/Caylee Hong, Ngong Hills, 2009

Eac week, 3 million people are added to cities of te developing world. Increasingly, te struggle for gender equality takesplace in towns and cities te world over. Photo UN-HABITAT/Caylee Hong, Ngong Hills, 2009


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Promoting gender equality and empoweringwomen is the third of eight MillenniumDevelopment Goals agreed by the world

community in 2000 to tackle the most dauntingdevelopment challenges in this early 21st century.

As populations become increasingly urban around theworld, this third goal is also vital to the sustainableexpansion of towns and cities.

We have, collectively, reached tipping point: 50.6per cent of the worlds people now live in towns andcities. Developing countries account for 95 per centof current urban growth.1 Over the next 40 years,urbanisation is expected to expand further in all majorareas of the developing world. e number of urbandwellers is expected to triple in Africa and doublein Asia.2 In many cities of the developing world,though, advancement and auence for some are osetby dehumanising poverty and exclusion for manyothers.

gender InequalITIes exaCerbaTe

dIvIsIons and hInder develoPMenT

Today, close to 828 million human beings, or 33 percent of the worlds urban population, live in slums.3ey experience challenges and deprivations of variouskinds and intensities, including high degrees ofpoverty, unemployment and crime, as well as lack ofdurable housing, poor sanitation and inadequate accessto clean water. Overcrowding and threat of forced

evictions pose further threats.

Women and girls are both direct and indirectvictims of the lack of basic services in slums. ehours they spend fetching water can lock them outof opportunities for education, employment andtraining. ey are also expected to stay home to carefor relatives of all ages made sick by poor-quality waterand inadequate sanitation. Early pregnancy and earlymarriages can also restrict girls opportunities laterin life. When coupled with the current food and

economic crises, urban poverty can encourage womenand girls to engage in risky sexual behaviour for

economic survival, putting them at heightened risk ofcontracting HIV/AIDS.4

UN-HABITAT helps governments and policymakers to build the skills and capacities required forbetter urban governance. is helps mitigate someof the risks of ongoing urbanisation, including theproliferation of slums, environmental damage as wellas social and economic inequalities. Promoting gender

equality is a crosscutting theme in all these eorts,as well as in the Habitat Agenda which sets out theagencys basic mandate.

e year 2009 marked the 30th anniversary of theadoption, by the United Nations General Assembly,of the Convention on the Elimination of all Formsof Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).Today, though, discrimination against women oftentakes more subtle forms than it did back in the late1970s. Gender blindness a failure to pay adequate

attention to dierent gender needs and priorities can result in inecient services that act as barriers towomen and girls education, healthcare, employment,decent housing and safe access to streets, parks,cultural centres and other public spaces.

The CosT of InequalITy

e United Nations Economic and Social Commissionfor Asia and the Pacic (UNESCAP) stated in its2007 annual survey that the region was losing US$40-42 billion a year due to restrictions on womensaccess to employment, and another US $16-30 billiona year because of gender gaps in education.5 Onthe other hand, World Bank experts have found thatpoverty incidence tends to be lower in countries withmore gender equality. Economic growth and genderequality also appear to be positively correlated.6

Research has shown that when mothers are grantedgreater control over resources, they allocate moreto food, childrens health (including nutrition) andeducation as evidenced in a diverse set of countries,

including Bangladesh, Brazil, Cte dIvoire, Ghana,Indonesia and South Africa.7

INTRODUCTION


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JoInT advoCaCy on TWo fronTs

In advocacy on gender equality and sustainableurbanisation, UN-HABITAT routinely brings togethergroups that have more common interests than theymay rst realise. On the one hand, UN-HABITATtargets urban policy makers and governments in a bidto enhance their understanding of gender issues indevelopment.

On the other hand, UN-HABITAT works directlywith womens networks and agencies to enhance theirawareness of the realities of urbanisation, slum growth

and the need for interventions targeting slum-dwellingwomen. So far, the vast majority of womens advocateshave focused on the plight of rural women and indeed,there has been a long-standing notion that the poor arebetter o in urban than rural areas.

Although slums and low-income neighbourhoodsmay be located close to schools, hospitals and otheramenities, slum dwellers often have poor access tothese services. UN-HABITATs State of the WorldsCities2006/7 report showed that in many cases,poverty, poor sanitation and indoor air pollution makeslum-dwelling women and children more vulnerable torespiratory illnesses and other infectious diseases thantheir rural counterparts.8

As a matter of policy, UN-HABITAT draws attentionto the many linkages between rural and urbanpopulations, as gender inequalities aect both. When

women in rural areas become widowed or disinherited,signicant numbers migrate to slums; once there,however, many face further discrimination from slumlandlords, who consider them to be unreliable renters.9

When they do struggle to pay rent, women becomevulnerable to sexual exploitation and intimidation bylandlords.10

faCIlITaTIng Change

In order to build government capacities for betterland administration and tenure security, UN-HABITAT works together with a wide range of globalpartnersfrom governments to academic institutionsto womens organisationsexploring ways to improveconditions for both underprivileged women andmen. UN-HABITAT is also working increasinglywithin a United Nations framework of strengthenedinteragency cooperation.

For example, UN-HABITAT works in close

partnership with the United Nations Fund for Women(UNIFEM) on the Global Programme on Safe CitiesFree of Violence Against Women and Girls. e twoagencies are also collaborating on programmes forgood urban governance and womens empowerment.In the same spirit of collaboration, UN-HABITAT isworking jointly with a total of 13 other UN agenciesin the Kenya Joint Programme on Gender Equalityand Womens Empowerment.

UN-HABITAT is increasing the numbers of platformsand other opportunities for grassroots women to workwith local, regional and national governments onimproved housing and more sustainable urbanisation.In the years to come, and as part of its GenderEquality Action Plan (2008-2013), UN-HABITATwill build on these eorts.

is range of activities goes to show that ifurbanisation is to bring about more equitable benetsand opportunities for everyone, enhanced awarenessof gender issues is an important rst step. Gender-responsive programming and budgeting, creativity,

accountability, partnerships and perhaps, mostimportantlypolitical willare also needed to turnwomens rights and gender equality into reality.


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INNOATIE APPROAChES FOR INOLUNTARY RESETTLEMENT

TURNING RIGhTSINTO REALITY

Waste not, want not? Poor ygiene and lack of waste management in slums poses serious ealt risks.Women take on a great urden of care wen cildren or oter family memers fall ill. Photo UN-HABITAT/Ulrik Westman


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TURNING RIGhTS INTO REALITY

All too often, women who have lost theirhusbands must face the added pain of beingforced out of their homes and stripped of their

land and inheritance, often by in-laws. e problemis particularly widespread in Africa and Southern

Asia, where women are systematically denied theirhuman rights to access, own, control or inherit landand property.16 e World Urban Campaign, ascoordinated by UN-HABITAT, and earlier campaignsfor secure tenure and urban governance, have placed

womens land and property rights at the centre of

policy debate and advocacy.

In addition to campaigns, UN-HABITAT andpartners look to develop strategies and identify tools

GENDER, LAND AND hOUSING

to ensure equitable enjoyment of land, housing andproperty rights. Women and vulnerable groups are aspecial area of focus. e severe impact of evictionson women has been highlighted by UN-HABITATSAdvisory Group on Forced Evictions.

In many countries, the Constitution and speciclaws or policies guarantee and promote womensequal rights to land, property and housing, if only

nominally. e challenge, however, is ensuring thesesafeguards are not undermined by poor governanceand cultural or social practices that discriminateagainst women. For example, in Southern Africa,there are many cases of property grabbing fromwidows, especially those whose husbands died ofAIDS-related illnesses.17

As part of its Law, Land Tenure and Gender Reviewseries, UN-HABITAT has published studies onLesotho, Namibia, Mozambique, Zambia, Nicaragua,

Mexico, Brazil and Colombia. Gender has alsofeatured prominently in the Islamic Land and PropertyResearch series, with two papers focusing on Muslimwomens rights to property and Islamic inheritanceand systems. is series was published by Zed Books,London in 2006 and another will soon be published inArabic.

UN-HABITATs research is innovative in identifyingentry points and strategies in the Islamic legalframework which can be used to protect womensaccess to land and housing. e ndings challengea common assumption that Muslim women areinevitably frustrated in their pursuit of property rightsunder the Islamic legal system.18

Ater decades o struggle, most constitutions in the world now enshrine womensequal rights. Although the undamental human rights o women are recognised, manywomen still sufer rom the continued consequences o traditional prejudices and

practices. Tis is nowhere more evident than in the area o ownership and inheritanceo land and other property.11

Anna K. Tibaijuka, Executive Director, UN-HABITAT

QUICK FACTS

In many countries, the relationship women have tomenor example as wives or daughtersdefnestheir access to land. This leaves women particularlydisadvantaged in cases o relationship breakdown,widowhood or changing priorities o landowners.12

It is estimated that only 2 per cent o women indeveloping countries own land.13 Such lack o accessto land and housing can be a reection o existing

poverty, but it can also make women poorer.

Exclusion o women rom access to land pushesthem rom rural areas to cities, and especially slums,where they oten join the ranks o emale-headedhouseholds. 14

Female-headed households typically represent highproportions o the poorest living in inormal settle-ments worldwide: or example, 26 per cent in Braziland 20 per cent in Bosnia and Herzegovina.15


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WoMens land and housIng rIghTs

UN-HABITAT also acts as secretariat to the GlobalLand Tool Network (GLTN), which brings togetherpartners from various professional backgrounds.ese share concerns for poverty reduction andachievement of the Millennium Development Goalsthrough land reform, improved land managementand security of tenure. GLTN promotes realistic,practical approachesparticularly through recognitionof a continuum of land rights, instead of focusing onindividual land titling as the only option for greatertenure security.

For instance, GLTN research into land reform inEthiopia showed that married women saw benetsin joint (husband and wife) land title certicates, asthese could make it easier to keep their homes ontheir spouses death. In 2009, GLTN began testing agender evaluation framework to determine the extent

to which land toolssuch as those focusing on landrights, records and registration addressed the specicneeds of both women and men. In partnership

with the Huairou Commission (an internationalnetwork of grassroots womens organisations), a pilotevaluation framework is now being tested by womensorganisations in Brazil, Ghana and Nepal.

Together with the Oce of the High Commissionerfor Human Rights, UN-HABITAT also supportsthe United Nations Housing Rights Programme(UNHRP). Between 2003 and 2006, the programme

issued three reports on women and housing. On thoseoccasions, the Special Rapporteur on the Rights toAdequate Housing found that womens rights wereoften undermined by factors as diverse as gender-based violence, lack of aordable housing, and policiesand programmes that respond inadequately to thedisproportionate impact of natural disasters, forcedevictions and HIV on women.

UN-HABITATs shelter projects promote womensinvolvement in the design and construction ofhouses and community buildings, as well as in the

development of services and infrastructure that makecommunities safer, healthier, more productive andmore responsive to dierent gender needs.

Photo UN-HABITAT/Caylee Hong


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AChIEEMENTS:

In Pakistan, an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale caused wide-scale death and destruction in 2005.UN-HABITAT contributed to the reconstruction o 600,000 homes. Benefciaries included large numbers o women,especially widows and those heading households while husbands had migrated to other areas or work. The projectacilitated womens access to unding or reconstruction through their own bank accounts, or, when married, through

joint bank accounts.

In Somalia, ater decades o conict, UN-HABITATs housing programmes or internally displaced people returning toGarowe are steered by committees with a 20 per cent quota or womens representation. This is how, or instance,women have participated in consultations on the design o housing and public spaces, and have contributed to theimprovement o courtyards where they could socialise while their children play nearby.

In New York, during the 52nd Session o the Commission on the Status o Women, UN-HABITAT organised a side

event to draw attention to the fnancial needs o land and housing schemes or women. Panellists included repre-sentatives rom Women Land Access Trusts in Africa and the Sel-Employed Womens Association in India. UN-HABI-TAT regularly uses high-profle platorms, including the biennial World Urban Forum, to enhance awareness o gender,land and property issues and to spur targeted action.

Rapid population growt in cities like Caracas, te capital of enezuela, as increased demand for ousing. Many poorouseolds eaded y women are affected y inadequate ousing, poor location, and scarce access to clean water, electricity,

pulic transportation and oter vital services. Photo UNICEF/NYHQ2006-2438/Markisz


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Although the typical workforce is comprisedof more men than women, in developingcountries women make up 60 to 80 per cent

of the informal workforce.20 Compared to formalemployment, informal work is generally characterized

by lower pay, less job security and fewer social safetynets. Nevertheless, it is a means of survival for a largeproportion of the urban poor and an important part oflocal economies in many developing countries.

UN-HABITAT supports and promotes WomenLand Access Trusts as intermediary organisations thatlink together low-income womens housing groupsand cooperatives on the one hand, and nancialinstitutions, governments and the private sector on

the other hand. Low-income women often nd itdicult to access loans to secure their own homes or,in slums, to upgrade their housing. e problem is thereluctance of mainstream banks and mortgage lenders

WOMENS ENTREPRENEURShIPAND hOUSING FINANCE

Tere is a strong positive association between womens right to property and povertyreduction. As women generally have a broader household management role, theircontrol o land assets has proven to enhance overall household welare, includingincreased spending on ood, childrens health and education. Secure land rights or

emale armers and businesswomen can improve investment, access to sources ocredit and better land use and productivity, with women requently regarded as atlower risk o credit deault than men.

Property Rights Alliance: International Property Rights Index 2009 Report 19

Photo UN-HABITAT/Caylee Hong


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to make credit available in the absence of formal jobs,

xed addresses, collateral and other credit guarantees.

affordable housIng fInanCe

In Jinja, Uganda, UN-HABITAT has set up arevolving fund to nance aordable housing for femaleentrepreneurs and their families. As a pilot project, 20new homes were completed in 2006 on government-donated land. e fund enabled the women to borrowmoney for the houses at low interest rates, repayingloans with business incomes. e small businesses

involved making beaded jewellery, fruit and vegetableselling, tailoring and second-hand clothesall low-tomedium-income occupations unlikely to appeal tomainstream banks.

Jinja project beneciaries were mostly widows, forwhom securing decent, aordable housing canfrequently be a serious challenge. In this particularinstance, they had lost the ability to access land

through a husband and could not aord to buy any.

Previously, the women in the Jinja project lived withtheir children in one-room shacks without piped wateror adequate sanitation. Housing loans enabled themto move into more spacious dwellings, with their ownkitchens and toilets, for the rst time in their lives.

Jinja Municipal Council and construction companyAkright Projects were active partners in the project,which goes to show that public-private partnerships,if well-devised, can make a signicant dierence.e Uganda Women Land Access Trust is now

coordinating eorts to build more homes in a secondphase of the project.

UN-HABITAT has worked with three other womenland access trusts in Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania, whileliaising with various organisations with to establishsimilar trusts in Burundi, Ethiopia and Mozambique.

On top of aordable loans for housing, the trusts alsoprovide women with business advice and training,

UN-hAbITAT is elping women to nd affordale solutions to nance etter ousing. Photo UN-HABITAT/Caylee Hong


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enabling them to maximize incomes and make gooduse of small loans from revolving funds. e trustsalso make it easier for women to liaise with localauthorities on issues such as provision of land, water

and sanitation.

UN-HABITAT strives to ensure that women enjoyequal access to aordable nance for housing and basicinfrastructure, especially in slums and poor urbanareas. e agency has involved women both as projectplanners and beneciaries when establishing LocalFinance Facilities in Ghana, Indonesia, Sri Lanka andTanzania. (See the case study on the Sri Lanka WomensBank on the following page.)

Local Finance Facilities build partnerships betweenbanks, governments and slum communities. esepartnerships improve banks condence in slum-upgrading projects, and help overcome the common

perception that slums are too risky for investment.Where necessary, UN-HABITAT makes grants toLocal Finance Facilities, enabling these to providethe credit guarantees or bridging loans that will makeslum projects more attractive for mainstream bankinginstitutions.

In a separate development, both women and menstand to benet from a new UN-HABITAT pilotprogramme that grants loans to community nancialinstitutions. e monies are then lent out to theurban poor for housing, water facilities, sewerage andother infrastructure. In April 2009, UN-HABITATsigned six agreements with project partners inArgentina, Bangladesh, Kenya, Nepal, Tanzania and

Uganda to deploy this type of scheme, formally knownas Experimental Reimbursable Seeding Operations(ERSO).

UN-hAbITATs work in ousing nance is elping women and teir families in Kuruniyawatta, Sri Lanka to uild etter,ood resistant ouses. Te district is on te ood plain of Kelani River. Photo UN-HABITAT/SUF Sri Lanka


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AChIEEMENTS:

In the Kinondoni district o Tanzania, construction o a fve-storey building with 32 residential apartments and fvecommercial units started through a successul partnership between Tanzania Women Land Access Trust, which is co-ordinating the project; the Government o Tanzania, which extended the lease on the land rom 33 to 99 years; UN-HABITAT, which provided fnancial support and technical expertise; and the Chinese government through the provinceo Yangzhou, which supplied Chinese engineers to work alongside local contractors.

UN-HABITAT is working with Kenya Women Land Access Trust in the development o aordable housing or womenentrepreneurs. Land has been donated by the Government o Kenya as part o the Kenya Slum Upgrading Pro-gramme.

In Accra, UN-HABITAT is working with Gana Women Land Access Trust to mobilise and register womens housingcooperatives. Members beneft rom training on leadership, as well as housing and legal rights.

Case sTudy: WoMens banK of srI

lanKa and KurunIyaWaTTa houseuPgradIng

One of UN-HABITATs partners in Sri Lanka,Womens Bank, has pioneered community bankingsystems for low-income women, starting with womensself-help groups in the slums of Colombo in 1989.Today, the bank has over 70,000 depositors and asavings portfolio worth US $12 million. In 2009,the Kuruniyawatta House Upgrading Project is oneof several UN-HABITAT collaborations with the

Womens Bank. is project alone will benet about

214 people. e settlers previously struggled to accesswater and electricity due to their illegal occupation of

the public land, but now the government of Sri Lanka

is transferring ownership of the land to Womens

Bank. After the loan is repaid, Womens Bank will

transfer the land title to the community for collective

ownership. Hatton National Bank is providing a US

$96,000-equivalent loan.21 e Kuruniyawatta project

is one of 10 in Sri Lanka where UN-HABITAT is

promoting womens housing nance.


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IMPROING URbANENIRONMENTS ANDOPPORTUNITIES

Photo Manoocher Deghati/IRIN, Dhaka


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IMPROING URbAN ENIRONMENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES

SAFER CITIES FOR ALL

quICK faCTs

UN-HABITATs Global Assessment of Womens Safety, which surveyed 210 organisations, ound that the mostwidespread orms o gender-based violence included partner violence (39 per cent), sexual violence (20 per cent) andviolence in public spaces, including public transport (19 per cent). 22

On average, violence makes up at least 25 to 30 per cent o urban crime, and women, especially in developing coun-tries, are twice as likely to be victims o violent aggression (including domestic violence) as men. 23

According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), women may be at greater risk o gender-based violencein urban areas because o the breakdown in cultural mores that govern relations between the sexes and the lowerlikelihood that neighbours would intervene.24

In So Paulo, Brazil a World Health Organisation (WHO) survey o 1,172 women ound that the 29 per cent who hadever had a partner had experienced physical or sexual violence at their hands. 25 WHO research ound the fgure tobe 41 per cent or women in Bangkok.26

While men are the primary users o guns, women suer disproportionately rom gun violence as they are rarelypurchasers, owners or users o frearms. The International Action Network on Small Arms estimates that, across theworld, 30,000 women and girls are murdered by small arms every year, while millions o others are injured by guns or

sexually abused at gun point.27

Concerns over safety and security affect te pysical and emotional well eing of citizens, especially vulnerale groups,wic often include women, cildren, te elderly, people wit disailities and etnic minorities.

Photo UNICEF/NYHQ2003-0485/Nooran, Basra


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To make cities safer and public spaces better forall residents, UN-HABITAT promotes bestpractices and government accountability. e

main focus is on improving urban safety for vulnerableand underprivileged groups, including women. Inthe past, most programmes tackling violence against

women focused on intimate partner violence in thedomestic, private sphere. While these eorts are stillimportant, the policy makers of today need also toaddress gender-based violence in public spaces.

In 2009, UN-HABITAT joined forces with the

United Nations Fund for Women (UNIFEM) tolaunch the Global Programme on Safe Cities Free ofViolence Against Women. e two agencies signeda Memorandum of Understanding to formalise the

partnership, and will work together to help localauthorities improve urban safety policies and schemes.

In more and more instances, gender-responsiveplanning, budgeting and practical measures areexpanding the rights of all citizens to access urbanservices safely and freely.

In Kenya, a public-private partnership known asAdopt-a-Light keeps Nairobis streets and slums litup at night to enhance road safety and reduce therisk and fear of crime, including robbery and sexual

assault.28

is initiative sends out an importantmessage, namely, that people who live in informalsettlements and lack property rights still have a right tosafety.

Reclaiming pulic space: Local women in Rosario, Argentina painted a mural carrying te message, More women in te street:Cities safe for everyone witout fear and witout violence. Photo Hilary Duy/UNIFEM, Argentina


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AChIEEMENTS

UN-HABITAT has provided training on the methodology o womens urban saety audits to groups in Nairoi, Dares Salaam, Aidjan, Warsaw, Duran and Kingston. The audits enhance womens participation and give legiti-macy to their concerns, while helping decision makers to understand how gender aects the way urban spaces areperceived and experienced. UN-HABITAT has also published What Works and Where?, a review o womens saetyaudit methodologies in various cities.

In Latin America and the Asia-Pacic region, UN-HABITAT and Women in Cities International have run competitiveaward schemes to promote women-riendly cities and gender-responsive local governments. The ocus was on saety

and security in Latin America, and also on disaster management and resilience in the case o Asia.

In India, and together with Jagori, a non-governmental organisation, UN-HABITAT is making bus drivers and conduc-tors more aware o harassment o women and training them to take appropriate action.

ChangIng aTTITudes and MaKIng

PublIC sPaCes safer

In the city of Cebu in the Philippines, government

funding of a multiagency eort to address domesticviolence against women has strengthened cooperationbetween womens groups, the police, non-governmental organisations and health and social

welfare departments. Enlisting male supporters todiscourage other men from violence against partners 29enables the scheme to take advantage of mens interestsand skills to promote gender equality.

Fear of violence or harassment, in addition to actualviolence, is a debilitating factor which restricts theability of women, the elderly, people with disabilities

and ethnic minorities to access services, move

about freely and enjoy urban life. UN-HABITATcontributes to a better understanding of gender-basedviolence in urban areas, and works with partnersto develop preventive schemes. Womens active

participation is critical to these eorts.

e focus is on creating safer environments in citiesand changing attitudes that condone or perpetuateviolence. is can include the following: (1) trainingof local authorities on gender-based policy-making andprogramming; (2) collection of gender-disaggregateddata on safety and security; (3) conducting violenceagainst women surveys, safety audits and exploratorywalks; and (4) promoting the documentation andexchange of best practices, for example through the

Global Assessment of Womens Safetypublished in 2009.

Women take an exploratory walk to identify safety risks as part of te Safer Cities Programme,a collaoration etween UNIFEM and UN-hAbITAT. Photo Hilary Duy/UNIFEM, Argentina


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MEETING GENDER NEEDS INWATER AND SANITATION

QUICK FACTS

In 2006, 22 per cent o the worlds urban dwellers lacked a piped drinking water connection on the premises wherethey lived. In developing regions, 29 per cent o urban dwellers lacked basic sanitation, with many having to deecateout in the open.30

In sub-Saharan Arica, treating diarrhoea absorbs 12 per cent o health budgets. On a typical day, more than hal oall hospital beds are occupied by patients suering rom aecal-related disease.31 At home, women and girls are otenlet to care or sick relatives.

According to UNDP, inadequate access to sae, hygienic and private sanitation acilities is a source o shame, physicaldiscomort and insecurity or millions o women across the world. Cultural norms requently make it unacceptableor women to be seen deecatingorcing many women to leave home beore dawn or ater nightall to maintainprivacy.32

Between 1990 and 2000, a UNICEF school sanitation programme in Bangladesh eectively increased girls schoolenrolment by 11 per cent.33

In Tanzania, a survey ound school attendance to be 12 per cent higher or girls in homes located 15 minutes or lessrom a water source than in homes one hour or more away. Attendance rates or boys appeared to be ar less a-ected by distance rom water sources.34

Traditionally, women and girls play a strong role in attending to te water and sanitationneeds of teir families and communities. Photo UN-HABITAT/Lao PDR


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safe WaTer and beTTer sanITaTIon

More than one in six people in the world lacksucient access to safe drinking water and2.5 billion lack proper sanitation.35 UN-

HABITATs water and sanitation programmes bringimprovements to whole communities, with operationsin Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America, all

with a priority focus on gender issues.Research in sub-Saharan Africa suggests that womenspend 40 billion hours a year collecting watertheequivalent of a years worth of labour by the entire

workforce in France.36 is is why women andgirls are likely to experience the more signicantimprovements in their daily lives when proper waterschemes are put in place. Less time spent fetching

water can also mean more time to study in school,with improved prospects for better employment andpoverty reduction.

However, once at school, it will take better sanitationfacilities to keep girls attending: they need facilitiesthat are sensitive to their needs. In poor urban areas,

the lack of separate-sex toilets in schools is a factorbehind poorer rates of girls attendance in school,after the onset of puberty, with some girls droppingout altogether. Sanitation goes far beyond latrines.Women and girls require safe, private spaces withsucient water for personal use and washing, andbetter drainage to make sure that waste water does notremain around their homes.

Unhygienic public toilets and latrines are threats towomens health, as poor sanitation makes them moresusceptible to reproductive tract infections. When thereare few or no toilets, many women have no choice butto relieve themselves out in the open, in secluded areasor under cover of darkness, which makes them morevulnerable to sexual or physical assault.

Addressing inequalities and deciencies in waterand sanitation is also important if MillenniumDevelopment Goals are to be achieved by the agreed

deadlines. Regarding environmental sustainability,Goal 7, Target 7.A (formerly Target 10) is to reduceby half the proportion of people without access tosafe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015,

UN-hAbITAT is working wit local autorities, womens networks, community groups,and water and sanitation experts to develop etter facilities and services. Photo UN-HABITAT/Nepal


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AChIEEMENTS

A UN-HABITAT programme targeting poor, emale-led households has helped to establish microcredit and revolvingund schemes or water and sanitation projects in 11 Arican towns. By the end o 2010, more than 50,000 poorpeople will have access to better toilet acilities. Community toilet blocks oer a much-needed service while provid-ing women with income-generating opportunities. UN-HABITAT has worked extensively in the Lake ictoria regionand is developing similar schemes in towns in Cameroon, Etiopia, Gana and Nigeria. More projects are plannedin burkino Faso, Mali and Senegal.

In our cities in Madya Pradesh, India, UN-HABITAT has supported the ormation o slum-dwelling womens sel-helpgroups. The aim is or local governments to beneft rom the active participation o women in the planning, manage-ment and implementation o water and sanitation projects.

Under ongoing UN-HABITAT programmes in Nepal, women are involved in user committees dealing with the treat-ment and bottling o well water or the urban poor, together with rainwater harvesting and improved stoves orsmoke-ree kitchens, as well as installation o cost-eective, eco-riendly toilets.

while Target 7.D (formerly Target 11) is to achieve

signicant improvement in the lives of at least 100million slum dwellers by 2020.

gender MaInsTreaMIng In WaTer

and sanITaTIon

UN-HABITAT has worked with the Gender andWater Alliance to mainstream gender issues in theWater for African Cities programme. ese eortsinvolved gender assessments in 17 African citiesto identify the particular problems faced by slum-

dwelling women.

e assessment showed that it fell almost exclusivelyto women to collect water and remove solid waste, todig pits for rubbish and toilets and, more generally,to keep the environment clean. For all these multipletasks, though, very few women were invited to sit onlocal development committees.

UN-HABITAT raises awareness of these gender issuesto help improve service planning and delivery. In Asia,UN-HABITAT has further extended its partnership

with the Gender and Water Alliance to a series oftraining workshops; these strengthen the capacityof local governments to adopt gender analyticalframeworks and to understand the broader politicalcontext of water distribution and reforms.

Gender assessments have been completed in threetowns in Laos and four cities in the state of MadyaPradesh, India. ese have helped local authoritiesto assess local needs and to prepare their own gendermainstreaming strategies and action plans.

For women, sanitation is a matter of ealt and umandignity. Photo UN-HABITAT/Tanzania


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OPPORTUNITIES FORYOUNG WOMEN AND MEN

An important challenge o youth policies and programmes in the coming decades isto make up or the major shortall in investment in young people, especially women,in past decades.37

United Nations World Youth Report 2007

QUICK FACTS:

The majority o young women in slums tend to have children at an earlier age than their non-slum counterparts.Young women living in slums are more likely to stay at home to look ater children and take care o household chores.This restricts their opportunities to look or employment, particularly in the ormal sector.38

Youth make up 25 per cent o the global working-age population, but account or 43.7 per cent o the unemployed.Among young people, emales ace even higher rates o unemployment and underemployment. They are typicallypaid lower wages than their male peers.39

In slums, risky sexual behaviour among women and girls, or trading sex or ood or cash, is a widespread strategy tomake ends meet. This makes emales vulnerable to HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. HIV prevalenceamong urban women in sub-Saharan Arica is already much higher than among rural women. 40

Young men and women in the slums o New Delhi have helped to make local parks, streets and public spaces saerand more accessible through a programme supported by the non-governmental organisation Jagori and UN-HABITAT.The scheme has mobilised more than 2,300 households.

UN-hAbITAT worked wit te Kenyan government to estalis te Mooneam Yout TrainingCentre, wic trains young people in construction and usiness skills. Photo UN-HABITAT


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Wit te return of peace, scool enrolment in Nortern Uganda as risen dramatically. Photo UN-HABITAT/Emily Wong

Todays young people are the best educatedgeneration in history, according to the UnitedNations World Youth Report2007. Greater

equality in school enrolment between boys and girls ina growing number of countries, especially at primaryschool, is a contributing factor.

When promoting entrepreneurship, leadership,training, peace-building or arts and culturalactivities, UN-HABITATs approach to urban youthdevelopment builds on progress in closing gender gapsand in creating more equal opportunities betweenyoung women and men.

Young people between ages 15 and 24 represent 18 percent of the worlds population, or 1.2 billion people.

According to the World Bank, 87 per cent of them livein developing countries.41 Youth are a great resource

for building urban, and, indeed national economies.is is why UN-HABITAT is working hard toimprove employability and entrepreneurship among

young people, with special attention to youngwomen. Better education does not, by itself, guaranteeemployment. UN-HABITATs 2008/9 State of theWorlds Citiesreport found that only about 3.8 per centof people between the ages of 15 and 24 in the worldwere employed. e report also showed that in Easternand Southern African countries, more than 40 percent of young women were neither employed nor ineducation.42

In particular, young women in informal settlementsoften miss out on opportunities for formal paidemployment because they have children at an earlierage, compared with their counterparts in plannedsettlements. ey also take on more domestic tasksthan men. is restricts their ability to participatemore signicantly in employment and training.

Against this background, UN-HABITAT has adaptedthe programmes of its One-Stop Youth Informationand Resource Centre in central Nairobi, Kenya inorder to make it easier and more welcoming for young


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AChIEEMENTS:

In Kenya, UN-HABITATs Moonbeam Youth Training Centre has already provided vocational training to more than 300young men and women rom inormal settlements in and around Nairobi. The project provides valuable experienceor employment in the construction sector or both young men and women, despite the sector being traditionallydominated by men.

Worldwide, UN-HABITAT's Opportunities Fund or Urban Youth-Led Employment is supporting youth projects which,among other objectives, promote gender equality.

In Freetown and Kigali, the respective capitals o Sierra Leone and Rwanda, UN-HABITAT has provided project man-agement training or more than 50 youth leaders and managers, about hal o which were emale. Most were work-ing or We are the Future One-Stop Youth Centres, which provide youth-led activities in post-conict cities. Genderbalance among youth workers is important or the promotion o both male and emale role models.

women to attend. As the agency found out, althoughmany young women from informal settlements saidthey were interested in using the Resource Centre,their domestic duties and childcare responsibilitiesmade it dicult for them to commute to the citycentre.

As a result, UN-HABITAT has opened three satellite

centres in informal settlements in Nairobi, enabling

young women in those areas to stay closer to home,

while beneting from services such as employment

counselling, computer and internet resources, as well

as HIV/AIDS education. Moreover, the programme

has introduced monthly Girl-to-Girl talk sessions,

which give young women a safe space to learn from

each other and to talk in condence about the issues

aecting them, including female reproductive health.

Photo UN-HABITAT


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GIING OICE ANDISIbILITY TO GENDER

Photo UN-HABITAT/Bangkok


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GIING OICE AND ISIbILITY TO GENDER

QUICK FACTS

Research based on a sample o 141 countries (19812002) ound that, on average, natural disasters (and their sub-sequent impact) killed more women than men, or killed women at an earlier age. In some cases, more men die innatural disasters than women. This was the case in 2001, when Hurricane Mitch hit South America. Men were morelikely to engage in risky activities, such as search and rescue.44

On average, women account or hal the population in reugee camps, but their participation in camp decision-mak-ing remains low. Data rom more than 80 camps show that equal participation has been achieved in only about twoin every fve camps. However, more recent data (2005, 2007) shows that womens participation is increasing.45

Conicts and disasters can accelerate urbanisationwith rural people displaced by war or natural disasters movingto urban centres in search o better resources and protection. This can cause ferce competition or resources, landand jobs in urban areas, adding to already difcult conditions in slums that are oten highly disaster-prone in the frstplace.46 Women and vulnerable groups oten experience the most difculties accessing limited resources.

Violence against women during or ater armed conicts has been reported in every international or non-internationalwar-zone. Between 250,000 and 500,000 women were raped during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, as were 20,000to 50,000 women during the conict in Bosnia in the early 1990s. 47 Over the last decade, up to 300,000 women inthe Democratic Republic o Congo have been raped.48

Power to te People: UN-hAbITAT advocates for community-driven approaces in post-crisis reconstruction,wit equal involvement of ot men and women. Photo UN-HABITAT /Pidie, Indonesia

GENDER EQUALITY AND DISASTER MANAGEMENT


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AChIEEMENTS:

In Afganistan, UN-HABITAT has cooperated with three municipalities to ensure that under a post-conict recon-struction and development scheme, hal the community development councils were made up o local womensgroups. In addition to improving roads and services such as electricity, the womens councils have also spearheadedincome-generating projects, savings and credit schemes along with literacy programmes.

In Aceh, Indonesia, one o the areas most severely devastated by the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, UN-HABITAT has worked with UNDP and the Government o Indonesia to mobilise and empower both women and menin their own community action planning groups. The groups decided on the design o their houses, building materi-als and labour arrangements. Within a year, 3,446 houses were built.

In Nortern Uganda, two decades o conict have displaced two million people. As part o the process o healingand rebuilding, UN-HABITAT has encouraged involvement o a wide cross-section o the community. In Lira, youngwomen have received training alongside young men to help rebuild homes or teachers. In order to help improvegender balance among teaching sta, emale teachers have been given priority in the allocation o completed houses.

Women possess muc untapped potential to improvedisaster responses and reconstruction efforts.

Photo UN-HABITAT /Caylee Hong, Uganda

Approximately one million families and over

ve million people around the world weremade homeless by conict and natural

disasters in 2007 alone,49 and it is the worlds poorestpeople, including slum dwellers, who suer the mostfrom these crises. Over 90 per cent of natural disaster-related deaths occur in developing countries.50

UN-HABITAT works in partnership with other UNand humanitarian agencies to help communities indeveloping countries to mitigate the eect of disasters,and also to enable survivors to rebuild their lives,

homes and livelihoods in a more sustainable way.Gender equality in disaster management andmitigation enables communities to reduce underlyingrisks and vulnerabilities that have traditionally made

women more disadvantaged in such situations. eapproach recognises that women form a large part ofthe poor around the world, and that many may needadditional economic resources if they are to developmore resilience to disastersfor example, by buildingstronger homes in regions susceptible to earthquakes.

Fair redistribution of land, property and resources iscritical, as well as increased participation of women indecision making. To help equip policy makers withthe knowledge and skills needed for more equitableland administration, UN-HABITAT has publisheda handbook, Post-Conict land Administration andPeacebuilding, which includes a chapter on gender-responsive approaches.

Promoting gender equality in humanitarian relief andreconstruction eorts remains a constant challenge,

since many communities, and even governments, donot make this a priority and fail to associate the issuewith longer-term urban development plans. However,

training and advocacy eorts are gaining momentum,and attitudes and approaches are also graduallychanging for the better.

In 2009, UN-HABITAT trained representatives from14 dierent countries in the Asia and Pacic regionon gender mainstreaming approaches in disastermanagement. In a bid to enhance awareness of bestpractices, UN-HABITAT has staged competitions andgranted awards for gender-responsive projects thatpromote disaster resilience in cities.


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Since 1975, the number of recorded naturaldisasters (including oods, tsunamis, tropicalcyclones, earthquakes and ooding) has

increased fourfold.51 Seven out of 10 natural disasters

are believed to be climate-related,

52

particularlydrought, desertication, severe storms, hurricanes andlandslides. e urban poor are particularly vulnerable,as many live in ood-prone and environmentallyhazardous areas. Poor quality housing further

jeopardises their chances of survival.

As a matter of policy, UN-HABITAT emphasisesthe importance of gender-sensitive climate changeinterventions in cities. As women take care of theirfamilies during crisis situations, they face enormouschallenges securing enough food and water, fuel for

cooking and lighting, and wood or other buildingmaterials for rebuilding destroyed homes especiallyif droughts occur, crops fail and natural resources aredepleted.

GENDER, NATURAL DISASTERSAND CLIMATE ChANGE

Women can e key players for promoting more environmentally sound practices aroundfuel use,ome construction and waste disposal. Photo Manoocher Deghati/IRIN

Cities are highly vulnerable to the rising sea levels andextreme weather conditions associated with climatechange. In developing countries, 14 per cent of theurban population live in low-elevation zones.53

UN-HABITAT promotes the active involvement ofboth women and men to reduce the negative eects ofglobal climate change.

According to the agencys State of the Worlds Cities2008 report, urban areas are often blamed for increasesin greenhouse gas emissions; however, cities typicalcompact form, together with associated economiesof scale, can also reduce energy demand and alleviatepressures on surrounding land and natural resources.54With disasters costing billions of dollars of damage

every year, there is an urgent need for cities to engageboth women and men fully in disaster planning,recovery, mitigation and innovative adaptationstrategies.


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Monitoring of gender and uranisation is a dynamic and callenging area of researc tat warrants more attention andinvestment. UN-hAbITAT is committed to producing fact-ased reports and information aout gender and cities to provide te

asis of etter informed uran development.. Photo Manoocher Deghati/IRIN/Addis Ababa

ADOCACY, MONITORINGAND RESEARCh

QUICK FACTS:

With the exception o Arica, the proportions o emale-headed households is greater in urban than in rural areas othe developing world. This trend has socio-economic implications, which can result in more serious poverty amongurban women in some countries.55

Approximately 20 per cent o households in the 160 sample cities included in UN-HABITATs Urban Indicators data-base are headed by women. In the cities o Vietnam, Ethiopia, South Arica and Colombia, more than one in threehouseholds is headed by a woman.56

In Kenya and Nicaragua, one-third o emale-headed households suer rom our shelter deprivations, which caninclude lack o durable housing, insecure tenure, insufcient living space, poor access to clean water or poor sanita-tion.57

In the developing world, almost two-thirds o working women are in vulnerable jobs as sel-employed or unpaid am-

ily workers.58

Mothers are more likely to be attended by pre-natal healthcare personnel in urban areas, as opposed to rural ones,but there remain many women in slums who cannot aord maternal health services.59


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MonITorIng Progress on gender

equalITy

As urbanisation prevails in most developingcountries, towns and cities are becomingprivileged places for the promotion of

gender equality. While most aid agencies monitordevelopment at country-wide level, UN-HABITAThas a unique focus on urban areas, identifying andmonitoring inequalities, including those of a gender-

related nature. e agency also compiles informationon any action taken by cities, local governments andcommunity organisations to improve gender equality,

which makes it possible to share best practices.

UN-HABITAT encourages and assists partnerorganisations, especially governments and localauthorities, to expand the collection of sex-disaggregated urban data. is enables better genderanalysis of urban needs, enabling policy makers totailor programmes and services that respond to genderdierences while oering equal opportunities.

UN-HABITATs Urban Inequities Survey monitorsprogress on the implementation of the Habitat

Agenda-which was adopted by 171 countries in 1996

as a commitment to improve human settlements-andalso progress on the Millennium Development Goals.One of the Habitat Agendas seven commitments isto gender equality and, accordingly, gender analysis ofurban development trends is an integral part of UN-HABITATs work. When it comes to monitoring theMillennium Development Goals, the agencys focusis on improved conditions for slum dwellers (Goal 7,Target 7.D).

UN-HABITATs specialised research area lies incomparing living conditions in slums, non-slumurban areas and rural areas. Sex-disaggregated datahas shown that gender aects the type and severityof inequalities (for example, in education, health ortypes of employment). Since trends vary across citiesand broad generalisations do not always apply, genderresearch in urban areas must be improved if policiesare to be informed by specic evidence.

MonITorIng urban InequalITIes

Slum-dwelling women and girls often face exceptionaldisadvantages. For instance, slum-dwelling girlstypically have lower school enrolment rates than

bringing gender into focus: UN-hAbITAT is striving to improve te compilation and analysis ofdata around gender and cities. Photo Manoocher Deghati/IRIN, Dhaka


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ProMoTIng besT PraCTICes

UN-HABITAT also collects and disseminates

information on urban development initiatives forits Best Practice database, which is available online.Gender equality and social inclusion stand amongthe 23 themes documented. Gender is one of thecriteria for the Dubai International Awards for BestPractices, which is presented every other year. Oneof the 2008 awards went to a gardening project inDakar, Senegal that helps the urban poor, includingfemale-headed households, to diversify incomes withurban agriculture. Another award winner was a post-tsunami recovery programme in Aceh, Indonesia,

which provided a revolving fund for women to startsmall businesses and earn their own incomes, insteadof relying on emergency aid.

Photo UN-HABITAT

AChIEEMENTS:

In 2008, UN-HABITAT published Gender Mainstreaming in Local Authorities: Best Practices, a resource book show-ing national and local governments, as well as civil society, how to beneft rom the urban development and gendermainstreaming experiences in various regions o the world.

UN-HABITAT is currently assessing the status o womens empowerment and gender mainstreaming in local govern-ance around the world. The research is conducted in partnership with the UN International Research and Training

Institute or the Advancement o Women (INSTRAW) and other independent researchers, and will show governmentshow to improve gender mainstreaming policies and practice.

UN-HABITATs Best Practice database and Dubai International Award or Best Practices publicise the schemes andprojects that have proved the most eective or womens empowerment and gender equality.

girls in formal settlements in the same cities.Meanwhile, women in slums have higher rates of HIV

infection, compared with men and women in ruralareas.60 ese are examples of the types of genderissues systematically analysed in UN-HABITATpublications, including the agship reports, the Stateof the Worlds Citiesand the Global Report on HumanSettlements. ey reach out to large audiences and helpto inform policy.

In 2009, UN-HABITAT commissioned a worldwideassessment of womens empowerment and gendermainstreaming in local governance. e surveyreviews six regions and 25 countries, broaching a widerange of topics such as the eect of gender on decision-making, poverty, and access to services and resources.


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bUILDING CAPACITY FORGOOD GOERNANCE

QUICK FACTS:

Women make up only 9 per cent o mayors and 21 per cent o emale councillors in the world.61 As o July 2009,they made up only 18 per cent o members o parliament. 62

Some countries have set quotas or emale representatives in lawmaking or political parties. Rwanda set a quota o30 per cent or women in parliament. In 2008 elections, women won 56 per cent o seats. Ater Lesotho set a simi-lar 30 per cent quota or local government, women won 58 per cent o the seats in 2005.

The Philippines has introduced legislation endorsing the Gender and Development (GAD) budget ormat, which man-dates all government agencies and instruments to allocate a minimum 5 per cent o their total budget to GAD pro-grammes and projects.63 Similar initiatives in local government can help ensure that gender-responsive programmesreceive adequate attention and unding.

In Santo Andr, Brazil, where 58 per cent o amilies are headed by women, a gender and citizenship programme hastackled high unemployment and poverty in our inormal settlements, through a range o training and income-gen-erating activities. Projects included a sewing cooperative or women and a microcredit scheme with Banco de Povo(Peoples Bank).64

Photo UN-HABITAT


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gender In governanCe

On top of good urban governance, UN-HABITAT promotes enabling conditions for

women and men to access all the necessitiesof urban life and the benets of urban citizenship.e aim is to create platforms for individuals to usetheir talents to the full and to improve their social and

economic conditions. Mainstreaming gender issuesin governance helps to achieve this. UN-HABITATassists governments with training and capacity-building on gender mainstreaming, while also helping

womens networks to strengthen their own roles inlocal governance.

Women are slowly gaining ground in politicaldecision-making, but according to the 2008 UnitedNationsMillennium Development Goals Report,progress is erratic and marked by regional dierences.

Women hold at least 40 per cent of the seats in ve

parliaments: Rwanda, Sweden, Cuba, Finland andArgentina, but worldwide the proportion is still onlyabout 18 per cent.65 At the local government level,only about one in ve councillors is a woman on

Small womens savings groups living in informal settlements in Sri Lanka were ale to otain affordale loans for upgrading

teir ouses or community facilities, troug collaoration wit local autorities and UN-hAbITAT.Photo Suzi Mutter/Colombo, Sri Lanka

average, and the ratio of male to female mayors iseven lower. 66 Furthermore, women in many parts ofthe world are still under-represented in managementpositions in the public sector.67

In order to improve gender balance in governance,some UN-HABITAT projects focus specically onthe advancement of women. Since 2002, the agency

has been supporting the development of an advocacy,leadership and community engagement approachknown as the Local-to-Local Dialogue. e methodwas pioneered by the Huairou Commission, one ofUN-HABITATs long-time development partners.e Commission campaigns in favour of grassrootswomens involvement in governance and sustainabledevelopment.

UN-HABITAT has published two books to assist localauthorities in gender mainstreaming: Gender in Local

GovernmentA Sourcebook for Trainers, and GenderMainstreaming in Local Authorities: Best Practices. etwo publications are proving to be popular resourcesfor local authorities in various regions of the world.


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AChIEEMENTS:

In a joint eort with the Huairou Commission, UN-HABITAT has piloted and tested Local-to-Local Dialogues at re-gional training sessions in East Africa, West Africa and Latin America. The approach enables grassroots women toconduct constructive debates with municipalities, local authorities, government departments, the private sector anddevelopment partners in order to address community problems and mobilise resources.

In Somalia, UN-HABITAT has disseminated a Somali-speaking version o the training manual Gender and the Role ofWomen in Local Governance. The document has assisted in the training o district councillors and local leaders in 16towns across the country. The manual will play a major role in the gender aspect o the UN Joint Programme or Lo-cal Governance and Decentralised Service Delivery.

In 2009, UN-HABITAT training sessions on gender mainstreaming in local governance took place in Sout Africa andIsrael, with participants in Arica, Asia and Latin America. Following the workshop in South Arica, local govern-ments in Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe have been developing gender action plans.

Face to face: UN-hAbITAT uses ig prole international events suc as te World Uran Forum to ring togeter womenrepresentatives from government, academia and grassroots womens organisations to develop gender-responsive

strategies for uran planning. Photo Jiang Suping/Nanjing Womens Federation


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The rationale behind the UN-HABITATGender Equality Action Plan (2008-2013) isto ensure a focused and coordinated approach

to mainstreaming gender perspectives into all UN-HABITAT programmes, policies and activities. eplan outlines six areas of action, which coincide withthe focus areas of the agencys Medium-Term StrategicInstitutional Plan (2008-2013):

1. Advocacy and monitoring o gender equalityin cities. is involves promoting genderequality and sustainable urbanisation through

evidence-based research and analysis, policydialogue, strategic partnerships, global campaigns,education, communications and sharing of bestpractice.

2. Urban planning, governance and management.Good governance at the local level allowswomen and men to engage equally with thesphere of government closest to them on issuesof accountability, transparency, participationand service delivery. UN-HABITAT strengthensthe capacity of governments to develop more

inclusive, productive and gender-responsive cities.

3. Land and housing. UN-HABITAT assistseorts by governments and Habitat Agenda

bRIDGING ThE GENDER DIIDE:The un-habITaT gender equalITy aCTIon Plan (2008-2013)

partners to adopt pro-poor, age-sensitive andgender-responsive programmes for housing, land

management and property administration. isinvolves improving policies and practices, as well

as legal and regulatory frameworks.

4. Access to environmentally-sound urban

services. Actions in this area help to ensure thatwomen and mens dierent needs and priorities

are adequately met in urban services, such as thosecovering water and sanitation, waste management

and ecologically sound transport, fuel and power.

5. Access to sustainable fnance or housing

and inrastructure. UN-HABITAT helps todevelop aordable nance options for the urban

poor. ere is special emphasis on slum-dwellingwomen, who often face even more diculty

accessing credit than low-income men.

6. Strengthened gender mainstreaming in all

UN-HABITAT programmes. UN-HABITAT isstrengthening its own procedures, performance

and monitoring of gender mainstreaming acrossthe agency. is includes training for sta on

gender-responsive programming and developing

tools and gender guidelines for programmes.

Photo UN-HABITAT Photo UN-HABITAT/Caylee Hong


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1 UN-HABITAT. (2008). State of the Worlds CitiesReport 2008/2009: Harmonious Cities, p. xi.

2 UN-HABITAT.(2009). Guide to MuncipalFinance, p. 10.

3 UN-HABITAT. (2009). Global UrbanObservatory.

4 UN-HABITAT. (2006). State of the Worlds CitiesReport 2006/7, p.55.

5 UNESCAP. (2007). Economic and Social Survey ofAsia and the Pacic 2007, p. 105.

6 World Bank. (2007). Global Monitoring Report2007: Millennium Development GoalsConfronting the Challenges of Gender Equality andFragile States, p.107.

7 International Monetary Fund. (2007, June).Smart Economics. Article by Mayra Bunvinic

and Elizabeth M. King. Published in Financeand Development, 44(2). Retrieved 4 October,2009, from www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2007/06/king.htm .

8 UN-HABITAT. (2006). State of the Worlds CitiesReport 2006/7,. p.v.

9 COHRE. (2007, 5 November). Submission to theUnited Nations Committee on Economic, Social andCultural Rights On the Occasion of Pre-SessionalWorking Group Discussion, Kenya Right to Housing

and Water (Article 11(1)), p. 41.

10 COHRE. (2008, October). Violations of WomensHousing Rights in Kenyas Slum Communities, p.8.

11 UN-HABITAT. (2002). RIGHTS ANDREALITY: Are womens equal rights to land, housingand property implemented in East Africa. Quotedfrom the Foreword.

12 Property Rights Alliance. (2009). InternationalProperty Rights Index 2009 Report, p. 37.

13 e Norwegian Forum for Environment andDevelopment. (2007). Beyond FormalismBrieng Paper, p. 12.

endnoTes

14 UN-HABITAT/Marjolein Benschop. (2004,22 April). Womens Rights to Land Housing andProperty. Paper presented at the Commissionon Sustainable Development. Retrieved 4September, 2009, from www.unhabitat.org/downloads/docs/1556_72513_CSDWomen.pdf.

15 UN-HABITAT. (2007). Policy Makers Guide toWomens Land, Property and Housing Rights Across

the World, p. 8.

16 UN-HABITAT/Marjolein Benschop. (2004,22 April). Womens Rights to Land Housing andProperty..

17 UN-HABITAT. (2007). Global Report on HumanSettlements: Enhancing Urban Safety and Security,p.132.

18 UN-HABITAT. (2007). Policy-makers Guide toWomens Land Property and Housing Rights Across

the World, p.17.

19 Property Rights Alliance. (2009). InternationalProperty Rights Index 2009 Report, p.37.

20 International Labour Organisation. (2004).World Employment Report 2004-05: Employment,Productivity and Poverty Reduction,, as citedby the United Nations Oce of the HighRepresentative for the Least Developed Countries,Landlocked Developing Countries and SmallIsland Developing States. 2006. Breaking Barriers:

Gender Perspectives and Empowerment of Women inLeast Developed Countries, p. 8.

21 UN-HABITAT. (2009). Slum UpgradingFacilityLand and Upgrading, p. 23-24.

22 UN-HABITAT. (2009). Global Assessment onWomens Safety, p. 14.

23 UN-HABITAT. (2006). State of the Worlds CitiesReport 2006/7, p.144.

24 UNFPA. (2007). State of the World Population

2007: Unleashing the Potential of Urban Growth,p. 23.


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25 WHO. (2001).Multi-Country Study on Womens

Health and Domestic Violence Against Women.Summary on Brazil. Retrieved 7 August 2009,from the UN Secretary Generals Database onViolence Against Women: http://webapps01.un.org/vawdatabase/searchDetail.action?measureId=18296&baseHREF=country&baseHREFId=262 .

26 WHO. (2001).Multi-Country Study on WomensHealth and Domestic Violence Against Women.Summary on ailand. Retrieved 7 August 2009,

from the UN Secretary Generals Database onViolence Against Women: http://webapps01.un.org/vawdatabase/searchDetail.action?measureId=18456&baseHREF=country&baseHREFId=1277

27 UN-HABITAT. (2007). Global Report on HumanSettlements: Enhancing Urban Safety and Security,p.72-73.

28 UN-HABITAT. (2008) E-Resources on BestPractices. Accessed 24 August 2009 at http://

www.un-habitat.org/content.asp?cid=6855&catid=463&typeid=2&subMenuId=0&AllContent=1.

29 UN-HABITAT. (2008). Gender Mainstreaming inLocal Authorities: Best Practices, p. 68-70.

30 UNICEF/World Health Organisation. (2008).Progress on Drinking Water and Sanitation: SpecialFocus on Sanitation, p.28 and 10.

31 Statistics from UN-Water, accessed 10 August2009 at http://www.unwater.org/statistics_san.html

32 United Nations Development Programme(UNDP). (2006). Human Development Report

2006: Beyond Scarcity: Power, Poverty andthe Global Water Crisis. New York: PalgraveMacMillan, p. 48.

33 UNICEF. (2005, 14 September). Women, Waterand Hygiene Are Key to Change in Africa. Pressrelease as cited in United Nations DevelopmentProgramme (UNDP). (2006). HumanDevelopment Report 2006: Beyond Scarcity: Power,

Poverty and the Global Water Crisis. New York:Palgrave MacMillan, p. 47.

34 Tanzania, Government of. (2002). Poverty and

Human Development Report. Poverty MonitoringService. Dar es Salaam, as cited in United NationsDevelopment Programme (UNDP). (2006).Human Development Report 2006, p. 47

35 Statistics from UN-Water, accessed 10 August2009 at http://www.unwater.org/statistics_san.html

36 United Nations Development Programme(UNDP). (2006). Human Development Report

2006, p. 47.

37 Department of Economic and Social Aairs ofthe United Nations. (2007). World Youth Report

2007Young Peoples Transition to Adulthood:Progress and Challenges, p. xxxiv.

38 UN-HABITAT. (2006). State of the Worlds CitiesReport 2006/7, p. 127.

39 United Nations Department of Economic andSocial Aairs. 2007. World Youth Report 2007Young Peoples Transition to Adulthood: Progress and

Challenges, p. 238.

40 UN-HABITAT. 2006. State of the Worlds CitiesReport 2006/2007, p. 54.

41 World Bank. 2007. Youth and Employment inAfrica: e Potential, the Problem, the Promise, p.1.

42 UN-HABITAT. 2008. State of the Worlds CitiesReport 2008/2009: Harmonious Cities, p.86.

43 Neumayer, E. and Plmper, T. (2007).. eGendered Nature of Natural Disasters: e

Impact of Catastrophic Events on the GenderGap in Life Expectancy, 19812002.Annals ofthe Association of American Geographers97(3) ascited by the International Union for Conservationof Nature, UNDP, and the Global GenderClimate Alliance in the Training Manual onGender and Climate Change.

44 World Bank. (2001). Prem Notes, No.57.Hurricane Mitch the Gender Eects of Copingand Crises. Retrieved 17 September 2009,

from www1.worldbank.org/prem/PREMNotes/premnote57.pdf.


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45 Department of Economic and Social Aairs of the

United Nations. (2008). Millennium DevelopmentGoals Report 2008, p. 19.

46 Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions. (2008).Women, Slums and Urbanisation: Examining theCauses and Consequences, p. 38.

47 United Nations Secretary-Generals Campaign toEnd Violence Against Women. How Widespread isViolence Against Women. Retrieved 7 August 2009,from www.un.org/women/endviolence/docs/VAW.pdf

48 UN News Centre. (2009, 1 November). UNICEFcampaign launches US tour to highlight DR Congorape crisis. Retrieved 1 November 2009, fromwww.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=29866&Cr=democratic&Cr1.

49 UN-HABITAT. (2009). Shelter Projects 2008, p.iv.

50 United Nations International Strategy for DisasterReduction. General Information about Trendsof Natural Disasters. Retrieved 13 August 2009,

from www.unisdr.org/eng/media-room/facts-sheets/fs-trends--natural-disasters.htm

51 UN-HABITAT. (2009), Fact Sheet on Naturaland Human-Made Disaster from the GlobalReport on Human Settlements 2009. Retrieved12 October 2009, from www.unhabitat.org/documents/GRHS09/FS5.pdf.

52 United Nations Oce for the Coordination ofHumanitarian Aairs. (2008). Climate Change:Risks Overwhelming Current Global Humanitarian

Capacityas cited by UNFPA. (2009). State ofthe World Population (2009): Facing a ChangingWorld: Women, Population and Climate, p. 30.

53 UN-HABITAT. (2009), Fact Sheet on Naturaland Human-Made Disaster from the GlobalReport on Human Settlements 2009. Retrieved12 October 2009, from www.unhabitat.org/documents/GRHS09/FS5.pdf.

54 UN-HABITAT. (2008). State of the Worlds CitiesReport 2008/2009, p. xiv.


56 UN-HABITAT. (2008). State of the Worlds Cities

Report 2008/2009, p. 104.

57 Ibid.

58 United Nations. (2008). Millennium DevelopmentGoals Report 2008, p. 4.


60 UN-HABITAT. (2006). State of the Worlds CitiesReport 2006/2007, p. v.

61 United Cities and Local Governmentswebsite. Retrieved 21 August 2009,from www.cities-localgovernments.org/uclg/index.asp?pag=wldmstatistics.asp&type=&L=EN&pon=1 .

62 Women in National Parliaments website.Retrieved 21 August 2009, from www.ipu.org/wmn-e/world.htm

63 UN-HABITAT. (2008). State of the Worlds CitiesReport 2008/2009: Harmonious Cities, p.193.

64 UN-HABITAT. (2008). Gender Mainstreaming inLocal Authorities: Best Practices, p. 51-53.

65 United Nations. (2008).Millennium DevelopmentGoals Report 2008, p. 19.

66 United Cities and Local Governmentswebsite. Retrieved 21 August 2009,from www.cities-localgovernments.org/uclg/index.asp?pag=wldmstatistics.asp&type=&L=EN&pon=1 .

67 UNIFEM. (2008). Progress of the WorldsWomen: Who Answers to Women?Gender and

Accountability, p. 29.


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Towns and cities are increasingly important places fortackling gender inequalities. ender quality for marter

Cities igligts some of te key gender issues we facein te context of rapid urbanisation in te developingworld. It also provides an overview of U-hBITTswork in promoting gender equality in all its activities andprogrammes.

Creating more equal opportunities and protecting rigtsfor bot women and men contributes to better livingconditions for te urban poor and acievement of teMillennium evelopment oals.

ender Mainstreaming UnitMonitoring and esearc ivision

U-hBITTP.. Box 30030, 00100, airobi, KenyaTel: +254 20 7624244mail: [email protected]: www.unabitat.org

un--habitat 2010 gender equality for smarter cities-- challenges and progress, hs--1250--09e, un...

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