Cities, towns and villages have not been a priority for women’s action in the last decade. Is this because the Beijing Platform for Action was weak in addressing problems that women face daily where they live and work in human settlements?

In the next 10 years, women activists and decision-makers should focus more on the living environment as it affects urban poor women, especially the homeless and slum dwellers.

Promoting gender equality, the advancement of women and improving the living environment has never been easy. Moreover, there is some misunderstanding of what the terms human settlements and gender mainstreaming are all about. But this has been addressed in the Habitat Agenda, Beijing Platform for Action, the Declaration of Cities in the New Millennium and other UN documents respectively.

Nevertheless, Ms. Jan Peterson, Chair of Huairou Commission, a leading umbrella organisation for grassroots women’s organizations working at community level to improve homes and communities, has on a number of occasions stated that gender mainstreaming as a strategy has in fact hidden women and their concerns and that we should go back to emphasize women.

However, there is a risk of going back more than 30 years ago when the only focus was on women in development. A number of feminists and women’s activists might not wish to turn back. Gender analysis, particularly the need to consider the impact of policies, programmes and activities on women and men, is still relevant to development planning.

The term human settlements is about living and working in communities. It encompasses the immediate needs of an individual in shelter and secure tenure, water, sanitation, infrastructure (including transport, communication and, electricity), health, employment and education – everything that enables us to live and work in dignity with security.

Local governments, municipalities, and city councils play a key role in raising revenue to finance and deliver basic services. This is complementary to the role of central government in providing large social and physical infrastructural investments, as well as spearheading urban and regional planning and development. All actions have gender implications because women and men don’t have the same needs.

The plight of the homeless and the urban poor, and especially the predicament of women, are yet to be effectively acknowledged in the current poverty reduction strategy papers (PRSPs) national poverty reduction programmes, other sectoral reforms, planning and development instruments.

Most ministries dealing with women’s affairs and women’s organizations have also failed in this regard. This is contrary to the spirit and the theme of the Third World Conference on Women in Nairobi, Kenya in 1985, which addressed equality, development and peace with particular emphasis on the rural and the urban poor, especially those in peri-urban areas, which means implicitly slum dwellers. A major gap in the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action has been the scant attention paid to poor urban women, particularly the homeless and slum dwellers. Most national women’s institutions and NGOs have failed to support or monitor municipal councils and local authorities on their pro-poor policies.

Women activists, community groups, politicians, policy-makers and women leaders who agreed on the Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies in 1985, really wanted to plan and make a difference to the lives and work of the most needy. They understood the slum challenge and wanted to do something about it, especially overcrowding, the lack of water and sanitation, inadequate health and education facilities, and poor infrastructure.

In the last 20 years, the HIV/AIDS pandemic has made the situation even more complex. Slums have serious implications for the prevention, treatment and care strategies for HIV/AIDS. The ‘ABC’ (abstinence, be faithful and condom use) model for prevention is hampered in slums and informal settlements, partly because of overcrowding, a lack of essential facilities, official indifference and poor communications.

A UN-HABITAT study on shelter and HIV/AIDS orphans in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Swaziland (2003) revealed that malnutrition in children under five was highest in slums, followed by rural areas, and lowest in non-slum areas of the city.

The Special Advisor on Water of the UN Water Task Force spelled out a grim situation in an address to African Ministers of Water (AMCOW) in Entebbe, Uganda, in November 2004.

Explaining sanitation coverage worldwide, he said Africa was worst, with coverage in North Africa at 86 percent, rural sub-Saharan Africa 36 percent, and urban sub-Saharan Africa 55 percent.

Asked about the sanitation coverage between slum and non-slum parts of the city he conceded that slums with just 17.5 percent coverage were dismally low compared to non-slum parts of the city at 92.5 percent. This shows clearly that slums are far worse off than rural areas. Policy makers must address this challenge.

Women are most affected by lack of sanitation facilities. If we were to consider the cost of sanitation, especially the use of public pay toilets, for a woman in her reproductive age and still menstruating, it would be high. Yet sanitation does not get proper attention, even among the women activists themselves.

Comparative studies focusing on the situation in rural, slum and non-slums areas must be conducted to equip policy makers, politicians, legislators, planners and development practitioners and partners with critical information to guide balanced rural and urban development and resource allocation in the 21st century. And to be most useful, this information must be disaggregated by gender.

As if all were well in the city, to date much emphasis has been placed on rural development. Taking sub-Saharan Africa as a whole, for example, it is important to note that 72 percent of urban populations live in slums.

Urban slums and informal sectors have been ignored far too long, and this should be changed, if poverty reduction strategies are to be effective. This is also important for the women converging in New York for the Global 10-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action. Surely, cities and other human settlements should be a critical area for women’s concern in the coming decade.

The Tsunami disaster in December 2004 highlighted the importance of sustainable human settlements. After massive destruction of life and property, most world leaders, in their reactions, cited homelessness, shelter, water, sanitation, food, health, and education facilities as urgent needs in helping communities to rebuild their lives. They have not yet delivered on the shelter front.

But for medium and longer-term rehabilitation, reconstruction and prosperity, proper urban planning taking in the security concerns of both women and men is crucial. The same applies in rebuilding Southern Sudan, one of the poorest and most devastated regions of the world after more than 20 years of war.

More women’s organizations and Women’s Affairs Ministries should take a keener interest in promoting safer cities and planned human settlements that provide for the needs and priorities of women. This involves working closely with community based groups, local governments and urban authorities, and promoting women’s participation in decision making with respect to resource allocation and the delivery of basic services at local, municipal, and national level. This requires good governance, transparency and accountability. Furthermore, women in business and micro-finance institutions should consider venturing into housing development, small and medium size enterprises.

UN-HABITAT cooperates with partners in this process as part of helping countries to realize their commitments under the goals of the Habitat Agenda (adequate shelter for all and sustainable human settlements) and the Millennium development Goals, especially target 10 on water and target 11 on improving the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020.

It is becoming more and more clear that target 11 cannot be addressed in isolation. In fact, improving the living conditions of slum dwellers is intrinsically linked to reducing urban poverty, education, gender equality and women’s empowerment, infant and maternal mortality, malnutrition, employment, HIV/AIDS and governance. In a nutshell target 11 impacts on all the other Millennium Development Goals, and it should be a concern for all.

Because women and men use the urban environment and urban services (transport, water, sanitation, security, schools, health centers, markets etc.) differently, we need to promote women friendly and women managed cities, with enabling legislation on land, housing, and affirmative action measures which respond to the specific priorities of each gender. Gender mainstreaming is about incorporating these gender specific needs and resources into all policies and programmes.

Lucia Kiwala is the Chief of UN-HABITAT’s Gender Mainstreaming Unit.