Gender Experts call for increased role of women in human settlements planning and housing policy Nairobi, 18 February, 2003: Experts from all over the world have gathered in Nairobi beginning today to look at critical issues about gender and human settlements. In his opening address, Mr. Daniel Biau, the Acting Deputy Executive Director of UN-HABITAT stated that UN-HABITAT was committed to empowering urban women through housing development and land rights. As women and children constituted the majority of the urban poor, there was an urgent need to address the increasing feminisation of poverty. "The significant challenge faced by all of us involved in promoting the Millennium development targets on water and sanitation and improving the lives of the least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020 is to ensure the gender equality and women's needs are sufficiently addressed, " he said. The objective of the three days meeting at the UN-HABITAT headquarters is to try and to identify priority areas and to design monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. At the same time the meeting hopes to explore new ways of strengthening women's networks and other organisations working in this area. In her keynote address, "Critical gender and Women's Issues in Human Settlement: Policy Implications, Constraints and Strategies for Action", Ms. Jo Beall from the Development Studies Institute of the London School of Economics, challenged the experts to look at the urban question, which lies at the heart of emerging political agendas. "The growing centrality of the urban issue is evidenced in the fact that the decentralisation of state power and the restructuring of local government have been at the forefront of international development policy and institutional reform over the last decades. However, the role of women in local authorities is still insignificant" Mr. Miloon Kothari, UN special rapporteur on housing rights told the participants at the opening session that while women's right to housing has received recognition from all the international instruments, few governments have implemented these recommendations. The situation is compounded by globalisation's impact on housing policies that directly affects women and children. Ms. Unni Ramboll, gender adviser of the Foreign Affairs of the Government of Norway, who sponsored the meeting, congratulated UN-HABITAT on their pro-active role in mainstreaming gender issues in human settlement development. Referring to the failure of governments to reach consensus on women's right to own land at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Ms. Ramboll reminded the delegates that a lot of work is still needed to be done if women were to enjoy their full human rights. Ms. Nyaradzai Gumbonzvanda, Regional Director of UNIFEM, who welcomed participants from all over the world, chaired the meeting. For further information, please contact: Mr. Sharad Shankardass, Spokesperson, or Ms. Zahra Hassan, Press & Media Liaison, Press & Media Relations Unit, Tel: (254 2) 624060, Fax: (254 2) 624060, E-mail: habitat.press@unhabitat.org, Website: www.unhabitat.org