UN-Habitat Chief Warns Women Disproportionately Affected By Housing Inequality

(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 22. Women face systemic barriers to accessing adequate housing, Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Program (UN-Habitat), Anacláudia Rossbach said, Trend reports.

She made the statement at the“Women's Roundtable” session held as part of the 13th World Urban Forum (WUF13) in Baku.

According to her, billions of people worldwide live in inadequate housing conditions, with women being the most affected by the crisis and facing additional barriers to housing access, including discriminatory inheritance and property laws, as well as limited access to land and credit.

She noted that the consequences of a lack of adequate housing exacerbate risks for women, including vulnerability to violence, especially in crisis situations.

Rossbach also emphasized that gender-neutral policies may, in practice, fail to address real inequalities and do not always reach the most vulnerable groups of women.

Furthermore, Anacláudia Rossbach stated that women's participation in decision-making is a key condition for ensuring adequate housing, and multi-level governance mechanisms that ensure the participation of women and girls are also important.

She added that there remains a significant gap between international commitments and their implementation at the national level, as well as a lack of gender-disaggregated data in the field of housing policy.

At the end of the discussions, as Rossbach noted, the proposals will be included in the final document of WUF13 - the Baku Call to Action.

Meanwhile, today Baku is hosting the final day of WUF13.

On the first day of the forum, a ministerial meeting on the New Urban Agenda, a ministerial roundtable, women's and civil society assemblies, business sessions, and discussions on urban well-being took place. The forum also featured a flag-raising ceremony for the UN and Azerbaijan.

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