Make cities safer for women, Gumbonzvanda tells World Urban Forum
Cities must be made safer for women and girls, Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, World YWCA General Secretary told participants to the Fourth World Urban Forum on Monday November 3, 2008. Over 1500 participants are gathered in Nanjing, China to attend the Forum under the theme ‘Harmonious Urbanisation’. The Forum seeks to examine rapid urbanisation and its impact on communities, cities, economies and policies.
To ensure services are delivered to women and girls living in urban areas, women must be present at the decision-making table. “Harmonious urbanisation must invest in increasing the number of women mayors, town planners, local councillors, members of parliament, researchers and experts,” Gumbonzvanda told participants. Through quality engagement and dialogues, the needs of women, girls, boy and men can be identified and met.
Empowering women and promoting gender equality in urban areas demands strategies that ensure women have access to decent work and that their entrepreneurship endeavours are adequately supported. Gumbonzvanda noted that all-too-often the spaces for women to trade or conduct business are not adequately planned to support women’s lifestyle and life cycles. Maternity leave and support and childcare services for women in the informal business sector are some suggestions that could make living and working in urban areas more tolerable for women.
Safe spaces for women in urban areas goes beyond the market place and city street—it includes the home. The State of the World’s Cities report shows that women in poor urban areas are especially disadvantaged because they are often excluded from secure tenure as a consequence of cultural norms and unequal legal rights in legislative and policy frameworks of political systems. For the majority of single headed households, child-headed households, persons with disabilities, people living with HIV secure housing is hard to come by, Gumbonzvanda reminded the participants. “The YWCA in a number of countries like Canada, Australia and the USA are advocating for policy reform that prioritises housing for marginalised sectors of the population,” the General Secretary stated as she elaborated on the YWCA’s role in providing accommodation and shelter for women and girls in cities around the world for over a century.
The Fourth World Urban Forum, convened by UN-Habitat, runs from November 3 – 6, 2008.
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