Women’s Assembly

UN-Habitat recognizes that gender mainstreaming is key to developing solutions for accelerating progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and implementing the New Urban Agenda (NUA).

In line with WUF11’s theme on “Transforming our cities for a better urban future”, the Women’s Assembly will focus on how the implementation of the NUA plays a key role to contributing to inclusive urban development.

This assembly will strive to address current issues such as rapid urban population growth and its effect on socially excluded groups. The needs of women living in slums and disadvantaged neighbourhoods, of elderly women, of disabled women, of indigenous women, and of those from ethnic and cultural minorities all continue to present particular challenges for those working to include representative groups of women in safe cities, and women’s rights work.

The meeting will focus on gender inclusion through a wider lens which accounts for the multiple exclusions women face while living in cities worldwide. Women from every level of urban life will be at the centre of this event, sharing their strength and experience in order to collectively develop strategies for confronting the issues that threaten women’s equality and inclusion in cities.

The Women’s assembly session will assess the situation in different parts of the world, identify good practices that can be scaled up and formulate concrete recommendations for relevant stakeholders.

Women Leading Peace, Security, Resilience, Care, & Economic Recovery: a Pathway to Transform Cities for Better Future

• What policy measures are required to make cities and human settlements more inclusive, safe, accessible, affordable, peaceful, resilient, and sustainable, considering the different problems, needs and interests of women from the global South and North, especially in the recovery programs and in the planning of the reconstruction of cities after humanitarian emergencies, such as covid, climate change, and conflicts?
• What good practices, experiences, and cultural changes have emerged from the Covid pandemic in terms of gender impacts in, human settlements and urban areas?
• What are some of the specific challenges faced by migrant and refugee women on arrival?
• What can cities do to specifically promote the integration of refugee women and their dependents?
• What types of measures can be put in place to ensure that intersectional gender equality and equity considerations are integrated into urban governance, planning, implementation, funding and evaluation?  
• What systemic institutional mechanisms are required to link the implementation of SDG 11, SDG 5, and the New Urban Agenda?
• How can we ensure and build strengthened integration of gender responsive approaches and women’s empowerment in human settlements?  
• How are national, regional, local level governments collecting and analyzing disaggregated data on urban planning to improve programming and monitor progress?  
• What accountability mechanisms are in place to ensure that cities deliver for all women and girls?  
• What role do women’s organizations and grassroots women play in all this?
• How do the core documents of WUF11 available in agreed UN languages contribute to the inclusion and further promotion of the NUA?