Tactic 05: Gender-responsive Approach
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Women, girls, and sexual and gender minorities of all ages and abilities living in informal settlements face significant disadvantages, including poverty, violence, severe hygiene and health challenges, insecure housing, and limited participation in public life. The gender-responsive approach aims to integrate their needs and priorities in infrastructure development to build safer and more inclusive environments.
The Gender-responsive Approach relies on ongoing feedback and evaluations of past and current projects, to inform continual refinements and improvements, ensuring that infrastructure meets changing needs and lessons learned
The Gender-responsive Approach ensures safety and freedom from violence in infrastructure upgrading, as well as equitable access to public space and basic services.
The Gender-responsive Approach engages all genders to highlight their different needs to build a functional, integrated and inclusive city that caters to all.
The Gender-responsive Approach integrates climate resilience and disaster risk management to cater for women, girls and sexual / gender minorities who face disproportionate climate risk and stress.
The Gender-responsive Approach enables women, girls, and sexual / gender minorities to participate as citizens in urban life and exert their right to the city.
Women (age 15 - 49) are overrepresented in informal settlements in 80 percent of 59 developing countries where data are available. In Kenya, there are 116 women for every 100 men living in informal settlement conditions.
Women, girls, and sexual and gender minorities of all ages and abilities living in informal settlements are at a greater disadvantage, as they often face poverty, violence, severe hygiene and health challenges, insecure tenure and lack of agency in public life. Better planned infrastructure and cities have the potential to create safer environments1, especially for women, girls and sexual / gender minorities. But it is important to consider the needs and priorities of these groups to understand how to best overcome their challenges.
Cities have traditionally been planned and designed in ways that reflect and reinforce traditional gender roles and the gendered division of labour, particularly through modern zoning practices. This has led to a separation of public and private spaces, which restricts access to the public realm for women, girls, and sexual and gender minorities. Spatial segregation and inadequate infrastructure disproportionately burden caregivers, who are primarily women, with additional time constraints. Additionally, public spaces often cater mainly to straight, able-bodied men, making them less accessible to women, sexual and gender minorities, especially those with disabilities, as well as men and boys who are affected by urban violence.
The social-spatial division of public and private spaces contributes to the violent "policing" of women, girls, and sexual and gender minorities in public areas. Non-intimate partner violence against women is higher in informal settlements, compared to other urban and rural areas. Planning and design factors, such as poor sanitation and inadequate lighting, exacerbate violence and the fear of violence, limiting mobility and access to public spaces. Additionally, the built environment can contribute to conditions associated with domestic violence.
Gender equality and women’s empowerment are matters of fundamental human rights and social justice, as well as prerequisites for sustainable development. Gendered exclusions to the city limit people’s ability to participate as citizens in urban life and limit their right to the city - the right of all “city inhabitants to have equitable access to all that a city has to offer and also to have the right to change their city in the ways that they see fit” .
The Challenge
Girl walking to school in Kibera Link Road underpass, Nairobi
Key concepts
ideological foundations that suggest it is our ethical and moral obligation to care about the wellbeing of others, especially where there are improvable circumstances concerning inequality and inequity due to social factors (such as gender)
integral role of women, girls, and sexual / gender minorities related to gender roles in their communities; for example, responsibility for homekeeping including cleaning, cooking, and childcare
Inherent challenges faced by women, girls and sexual / gender minorities; for example, biological challenges, pregnancy, menstruation, health issues
instrumental objectives achieved through infrastructure programmes; for example, community / familial/individual sustainability, economic gains, improved health, improved economic livelihoods
Understanding the distinction between strategic gender needs and practical gender needs, and how different interventions meet these needs and at which level can be a good basis for considering how to operationalize gender considerations in infrastructure planning and design.
Integrating diverse voices
Integrating the voices of women, girls, and sexual / gender minorities from different age groups, ethnicities, sexual orientations, backgrounds, and other identities in the design and planning of infrastructure and the city is crucial.
Climate Resilience And Disaster Risk Management
Integrating climate resilience and disaster risk management plans throughout the designing and planning stages is also encouraged, as women, girls, and sexual and gender minorities are more vulnerable to climate risks due to poverty and lower socioeconomic status, particularly in informal areas.
During and after disasters, women and girls face a higher risk of death because of caregiving responsibilities and the likelihood of being trapped at home. Climate disasters can also force women to lose tenure and economic assets, perpetuating a cycle of vulnerability. The long-term impacts of such disasters are more severe for women, as they experience increased caregiving burdens and a heightened risk of gender-based violence (GBV).
Tailored For Different Needs Of The City
Different genders have different use/needs of the city and urban space and a functional, integrated and inclusive city caters to all. It is important to understand what these uses and needs are to tailor appropriate solutions. Some key topics to consider in infrastructure upgrading include ensuring safety and freedom from violence, improving pedestrian and street access, water distribution, sanitation, hygiene, solid waste management, housing, security of tenure, improving access to economic opportunities (including avoiding relocations), access to public spaces and other basic services.
Sex • Gender • Gender Identity — Gender Expression ~ Sexual Orientation ~ Sexual and Gender Minorities • People with Disabilities • Gender Equality — Gender Equity ~ Gender Mainstreaming • Gender-Inclusive • Productive Work — Reproductive Work ~ Practical Gender Needs • Strategic Gender Needs • Gender-Based Violence — Violence Against Women and Girls ~ Safeguarding
Safety and freedom from violence • Accessing public spaces — Mobility (including pedestrian access and transport) — Health & hygiene (including WASH) — Climate resilience • Security of tenure — Working rights
How To
Integrate the voices of women, girls, and sexual / gender minorities from different age groups, ethnicities, sexual orientations, backgrounds, and other identities in the design and planning of infrastructure and the city.
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Strong community engagement processes: Engage women, girls, and sexual and gender minorities of all ages and abilities as true partners in the planning and design process, sharing decision-making power. Actively involve them in co-designing plans and projects to create solutions that meet their needs and priorities.
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Use gender disaggregated research and data as evidence base for informing intervention design: Gender-disaggregated data is data that can be broken down by gender groups — men, women, and gender minorities — to allow for analysis of the different challenges they face. Collecting this quantitative and qualitative data at the start of any planning or development process reveals gender-related inequalities, informs data-driven solutions, and enables measurement of project success over time.
Identify different challenges and needs and use these to guide towards integrated and inclusive solutions.
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Day in the Life exercise: Understand an area by exploring the daily experiences of women and sexual and gender minority community members.
Engage men and boys in advancing gender-inclusive urban planning and design.
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Address Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) in planning and design3 (pages 6-7 & 18-19):
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Identify risks of VAWG in each of ICED’s seven entry points (safe spaces; transport; water and sanitation; energy; land and housing rights; formal and informal workers).
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Address VAWG through ICED’s entry points
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Safety Audits (see > SafetiPin case study) to assess city safety, generate detailed local data on the relative safety of different areas at various times of day and night, and empower women and girls to become authoritative voices in their communities.
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Plan to ensure equal access to basic services
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pedestrian and street access
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water distribution, sanitation and hygiene
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solid waste management
Consider housing and security of tenure
Improve access to economic opportunities (including avoiding relocations)
Plan for equal access to public spaces
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Public Space Checklists
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Women, girls and sexual / gender minorities face disproportionate climate risk and stress.
Are climate resilience and disaster risk management adequately considered throughout the designing and planning stages?
Case Studies
References
[1] Fraser et al. (2017) Violence against Women and Girls, Infrastructure and Cities, https://www.gov.uk/government/
publications/violence-against-women-and-girls-infrastructureand-cities-briefing-note
[2] WB - KDI (2020), Handbook for Gender-Inclusive Urban Planning Design, https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/33197
[3] Azcona Ginette et al; Spotlight on SDG11: Harsh realities: Marginalised women in cities of the developing world, https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/Library/Publications/2020/Harshrealities-Marginalized-women-in-cities-of-the-developing-world-en.pdf
[4] Garfias Royo et al. (2022), A Structured Review of Emotional Barriers to WASH Provision for Schoolgirls Post-Disaster, https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/4/2471
[5] MacArthur et al. (2020), Wash and gender: A critical review of the literature and implications for gender-transformative wash research, https://doi.org/10.2166/washdev.2020.232
[6] Moser (1989), Gender planning in the third world: Meeting practical and strategic gender needs, https://doi.org/10.1016/0305-750X(89)90201-5