WUNRN
WOMEN & HABITATS - WOMEN'S
VOICES & ACTIVISM ON URBANIZATION, SLUMS
Nearly
twenty years ago, grassroots women living in slums and informal settlements
gathered in a tent outside the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing to
advocate for recognition and respect for the central role they play in their
families and communities. A common concern was growing that the global women's
movement was not ensuring processes for including grassroots women in their
agenda-setting and advocacy, and that the issues poor communities were dealing
with on a daily basis such as basic services, access to food, livelihoods,
water and sanitation, etc, were not being prioritized. The Huairou
Commission was born out of this gathering.
Of the
17 priority areas of the Post-2015 Development Agenda, the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs), is #11:
"Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and
sustainable."
Relinda Sosa, President, National
Confederation for Women Organized for Life and Integrated Development
(CONAMOVIDI), GROOTS Peru
"Due
to the configuration of society, women are the ones who spend most time with
the families and in the community, therefore they know it better than men who
often only sleep in the area and then go to work far away...Despite their
position, though, and due to the macho culture that exists in Latin America,
women are often invisible. This is why we are working to ensure they are
involved in the planning process, because of the data and knowledge they
have."
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President Carmen Griffiths, Executive Director Construction
Resource and Development Center (CRDC), GROOTS Jamaica
"When access to basic
services is lacking, women are the ones who have to face these situations
first...We look at settlements patterns in the cities, we talk about
densification in the city, people living in the periphery, in
"When access to basic
services is lacking, women are the ones who have to face these situations
first...We look at settlements patterns in the cities, we talk about
densification in the city, people living in the periphery, in informal
settlements, in housing that is not regular, have no water, no sanitation in
some cases, without proper electricity. We talk about what causes violence to
women in the city...Sometimes it happens that you find good politicians, some
other times they just want a vote and don't interface with the people at
all." GROOTS Jamaica is a national network of grassroots women's groups in
urban and rural areas of Jamaica.
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Urban
Population to Reach 3.9 Billion by Year End
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WUNRN
Asha-India.org Photos
INDIA - SLUM LIFE IN POVERTY FOR
WOMEN & GIRLS - PHOTOS
Slum dwellers live surrounded by dirty stagnant water, garbage and overflowing drains
Slum houses are made out of discarded materials such as plastic, gunny bags and old pieces of cloth
Safe water is scarce - people have to walk to fetch water or queue to collect it from tankers
There is one community latrine for 125 people
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