Gender mainstreaming in everyday life spaces for the inclusive and sustainable future of cities- gender criteria for housing design and public policies

An inclusive and sustainable urban future in our cities is possible when all people can fully enjoy the right to housing which is a human right and not just a key factor in the quality of human life: without a roof over their heads, people are deprived of any form of human dignity.
Millions of people around the world live in conditions that are dangerous to life or health, in overcrowded slums and informal settlements, or in other conditions that do not respect their human rights and dignity. Millions more people every year suffer forced evictions or are threatened with forced eviction from their homes. The numbers say that the majority of these people are women.

Numerous international conferences, declarations and plans of action have also contributed to clarify various aspects of the right to adequate housing and have reaffirmed the obligation of States to implement it. SDG 11 of the 2030 Agenda calls for specific targets for 2030: to ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services, and to promote inclusive and sustainable urbanization. The same SDG 5, which affirms gender equality as a fundamental human right, has among its targets safer access to land and adequate and affordable housing for women.

The New Urban Agenda, also, assumes gender commitments, guaranteeing the full participation of women and girls and equal rights in cities. It recognizes the gap between women's contribution to cities and the benefits they obtain, in terms of representation in urban governance, access to decent work and basic services, housing and public spaces, and stresses the importance of addressing gender inequalities throughout the urban management and development process (paragraphs 5 and 13).

In this sense, it is necessary to promote housing policies that respond to the specific affordability needs of different groups of women, through a variety of context-specific, gender-sensitive measures and security of land tenure and inheritance rights that ensure adequate housing for women in different family and marital status situations. In order for this to be translated into concrete actions, it is essential to incorporate the gender perspective in housing policies in order to identify needs and solutions.

The proposed event will examine the issue of housing, which is important for the future of cities, through its design and integration into urban planning. In particular, it approaches housing design from a gender perspective, providing a series of recommendations for integrating all those aspects of residential architecture in our cities that are relevant to equity, inclusion and sustainability.