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Currently, the numbers of urban and rural dwellers in the world are almost evenly split, with slightly more in urban areas. However, the share of urban dwellers is expected to rise to 70 per cent by 2050.1 Almost all of this growth will take place in developing countries. Cities are often engines of economic growth and social advancement, but rapid urbanisation in most of the developing world has also resulted in stark inequalities between the rich and the poor, environmental degradation and growing numbers of slum dwellers.
While urbanisation offers many benefits, the ugly face of urbanisation is urban poverty, which often has the most severe impact on women and girls. The world’s 828 million slum dwellers2 suffer in varying degrees from poor sanitation, inadequate access to clean water, crime, unemployment, threats of evictions, overcrowding and poor quality housing.
Women in cities often suffer disproportionately, not only because they are, on average, poorer than men (three-fifths of the world’s one billion poorest people are women and girls3), but often also because they experience greater difficulty in accessing resources and services tailored to their needs, and decision-making opportunities.
This WomenWatch feature aims to improve understanding of gender equality issues in urban development, an area which has received less attention than rural development within the gender and development discourse. The emphasis here is mainly on poor, urban women, especially those in slums and informal settlements.
There is need for a balanced approach on achieving gender equality and empowering women. This approach needs to focus on both the rural and the urban poor, and the many linkages between them. Migration, the flow of money and resources, and environmental interdependency between rural and urban areas makes sustainable urbanisation a global issue affecting both the countryside and the city. |
