Cities as a Factor of Gender Inequality

Urban inequalities constitute one of the central features of the contemporary globalized world and are expressed in unequal enjoyment of housing, basic services, and the infrastructures that sustain daily life. The processes of land financialization and housing commodification have transformed cities into spaces of economic accumulation, intensifying socio-spatial segregation in both the Global North and South.

From a feminist perspective, the city and housing are key spaces where the sexual division of labor and the unequal distribution of care responsibilities are materialized. Unpaid reproductive work, fundamental for daily survival, continues to fall mainly on women, conditioning their access to, use of, and control over resources, time management, and autonomy (dignity). In this sense, housing precariousness and residential insecurity have particularly intense effects on women, especially those in women-headed households, migration status, or in situations of vulnerability.

In this context, the HIC-MENA with its members contributed in a global study with Observatori DESCA on “Cities as a factor of inequalities: survival in the global north and south from a gender perspective.” It explores inequalities from a cross-regional comparative perspective, incorporating a gender approach that makes visible the differentiated effects on women in different urban contexts: the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, Latin America and Europe with recommendations for women to realize their human right to housing in the city from a gendered and intersectional perspective.

The MENA region contribution focuses on how gender wage gaps and their impact on access to housing are manifest, combining structural analysis with case studies from Egypt and Tunisia. These cases highlight the limitations of legislative frameworks and the housing precariousness faced by women in context of the current polycrisis with deregulated urban markets.

Urban inequality in the region is the result of decades of accumulated policies and structural failures in both national and local spheres of development, exacerbated by rapid urban growth without sufficient planning or enforcement of established standards. These factors have contributed to increased debt and inflation, as well as rising costs of food, health, housing, and education. Added to this is the instability caused by conflicts, wars, and occupations, which have generated humanitarian emergencies and famine risks.

As a consequence, growing economic and social inequality in cities have limited the enjoyment of basic rights such as water, food, housing, livelihoods, and social protection, especially for vulnerable groups, including women, youth, and displaced persons. This structural incoherence has caused unequal economic growth, deterioration of livelihoods and infrastructure, massive long-term displacement, and further disruption of basic social services.

One of the most marked gender inequalities in the MENA region, as elsewhere, is the significant wage gap, considered one of the main priorities for women, even among displaced and refugee communities. The gender wage gap reveals significant disparities across all MENA countries, especially in sectors employing women, such as the informal sector. There, women`s incomes are lower than those working in male-dominated sectors. Moreover, women in the informal sector face poor and insecure working conditions. Therefore, the adequate-housing element of affordability is central to analyzing the right to adequate housing from a gender perspective. This right is not evaluated solely by the availability of housing or the standardization of rental prices and housing units, but by people`s capacity (autonomy) to pay for housing without compromising other fundamental human rights.

The analysis results of both case studies from Egypt and Tunisia, shows that the wage gap between women and men is not merely an income disparity, but becomes a decisive factor in determining who can afford housing costs within cities.

Both the case studies from Egypt and Tunisia highlight that the increase in housing costs is not limited to rent, or the price of the housing unit, but also affects additional values related to basic services, such as electricity, water, energy and maintenance, as well as transportation costs, resulting from living in areas far from employment opportunities and services. These costs represent a higher percentage of women`s income compared to men`s, increasing the risks of energy poverty, housing instability, and eviction, especially among female-headed households or single-income families.

For further details the gender wage gap and women`s right to adequate housing in urban areas, download the full study. 

Photo: Scene from the front cover of The Alexandria Consultation Women’s Right to Adequate Housing and Land Middle East/North Africa  (Cairo: HIC-HLRN, 2005)