|
Urbanisation is not a
gender neutral phenomenon. The gender dimension of urbanisation involves and
affects hundreds of millions of women in very particular ways, which must be
urgently addressed in the battle against global poverty. These are some of
the key findings of Women, Slums and Urbanisation: Examining the Causes and
Consequences, a new report by the Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and
Evictions (COHRE). The report also found that violence against women is
rampant in urban slums across the world. The report is based on COHRE’s
research in six global cities (Accra, Buenos Aires, Colombo, Mumbai, Nairobi,
and Sao Paulo) where COHRE interviewed women and girls living in over twenty
slum communities.
The report confirms that, for women as well as for men, the
city’s primary attraction or ‘pull’ factor is the possibility of economic
opportunities unavailable to them in other areas. COHRE's research also
revealed significant ‘push’ factors, many of which are gender-specific. Many
women migrate to cities as a way to escape from something which threatens to
do them harm. These ‘push’ factors include domestic violence and harmful
cultural practices, such as polygamy, and disinheritance. The research cites
cases of widows in Ghana who had been disinherited of their land and property
in the north, or those whose inheritance had caused a rift between them and
their in-laws, who decided to move to Accra to start a new life.
Mayra Gomez, Coordinator of COHRE’s Women’s Housing Rights
Programme (WHRP), said, “COHRE’s research reveals that the triggers for
women’s migration to the cities are often related to patterns of gender-based
discrimination and violence which serve to push women deeper into poverty, or
which otherwise land women in crisis situations. For example, 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.”
According to Women, Slums and Urbanisation, women often move
into slums for a number of reasons which both propel them from the rural
areas, and attract them to the city. For example, women who find themselves
infected by HIV are sometimes convinced that relocation into the city would
solve the glaring social stigma they suffer in their home communities and
would also be beneficial in terms of being able to access health treatment
and other services, which they would otherwise not get in their previous
communities.
Gomez said, “Other factors impacting urbanisation include
HIV/AIDS, disaster and forced eviction, all of which have gender-specific
dimensions. The impact of HIV/AIDS is plainly evident in Kenya, where HIV and
AIDS emerged as key factors relating to the migration of poor women to the
slums of Nairobi. In Kenya, many women whose husbands have died of
AIDS-related diseases were presumed by their communities to also be infected.
Many such women are driven away from their communities on accusation that
they will infect more people and spread the disease to the entire community.”
Once in the slums, women also face formidable challenges to
daily survival. Jean du Plessis, COHRE’s Deputy Director, said, “Our research
demonstrates that while women’s experiences are not uniform, there are
similarities in the reasons why they migrate to cities, and women face
similar challenges to their daily survival in slums across the world. While
inadequate living conditions in the slums affect all residents, female or
male, women and girls suffer disproportionately those burdens which fall on
their shoulders because of their gender. Violence, inadequate provision of
services, housing insecurity, lack of privacy, employment discrimination, and
unequal remuneration are all common experiences with profound gendered
dimensions.”
The most critical cross-cutting theme to emerge from the
COHRE study is that violence against women, including domestic violence and
rape, is rampant in urban slums across the world. Gomez said, “Violence
against women and women’s insecurity in slums emerged as principal and
recurrent issues. Governments have a duty to address fundamental 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 the full range of their human rights within the urban context.”
COHRE’s report identifies ten concrete recommendations,
which, if implemented, would go far in addressing the problems experienced by
women living in urban slums across the world. The recommendations are:
- Provide security of
tenure, as a matter of priority, to women and their families living in
slums;
- Combat violence
against women in all its forms, and provide effective legal and other
remedies to victims of gender-based violence;
- Invest in slum upgrading
programmes and housing development programmes for the poor, ensuring
women’s effective participation;
- Ensure joint ownership
of and control over housing, land, and property, as well as equal rights
between men and women in marriage;
- Strengthen national
legal protections for women’s housing rights on the basis of
non-discrimination and equality;
- Enforce women’s
inheritance rights and equal rights to marital property;
- Improve access to
basic services, such as water and sanitation, and provide safer
environments for women living in the slums;
- Fight against women’s
poverty and provide economic empowerment opportunities to poor and
disadvantaged women;
- Improve the collection
of data on the impacts of urbanisation, with particular emphasis on
collecting gender-disaggregated statistic; and
- Raise awareness about
women’s human rights, including women’s housing rights, at community and
institutional levels.
__________________________________________________________
Secure
Land Rights for All - Critical for Sustainable Urban and Rural Development -
Says UN-HABITAT Report
For
copy of Report, register with UN-HABITAT at:
When it comes to land and property rights around the world,
there is no doubt that women get the short end of the stick:
According to a new report published by UN-HABITAT on the
occasion of the 16th session of the Commission for Sustainable Development
this week, women own less than 10 percent of the property in the developed
world, while in the developing world it is only 2 percent.
In her foreword to the publication launched this week, Secure
Land Rights for All, Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director of
UN-HABITAT states: “Secure land and property rights for all are essential to
reducing poverty, because they underpin economic development and social
inclusion. Secure land rights empower people in both rural and urban areas to
improve their homes and livelihoods. At the same time, they help to promote
good environmental management, improve food security, and assist directly in
the realization of human rights, including the elimination of discrimination
against women, the vulnerable, indigenous groups and other minorities.”
The new work also explains that the recent crises in Kenya and Zimbabwe
show that land is a critical issue in Africa. For example, in much of Central
Africa, only 1 percent of the land has been surveyed and titled. Though the
figure is higher in other parts of Africa, at best it accounts for only 15
percent of the land.
The situation is not much better in Asia and Latin America, where up to 70
percent of the land still remains officially unrecorded.
Given such startling statistics, immediate attention needs to be given to
land and property rights especially given the increased population and the
resulting demand for land.
|
