Gender, urban land tenure and access to public spaces

A combination of tenure security and sustainable land use is crucial for sustainable, safe and resilient cities and human settlements. In relation to women and girls, their insecurity of tenure reflects the gender disparities in development policies, land policies and land administration. Indicators of their marginalized status include their overrepresentation in poor living conditions in slums, in subsistence agriculture and in unpaid or low-paid work in the informal economy.There has been however renewed commitments to address the land dimension in the process of urbanization as has been witnessed by the reaffirmation of the centrality of security of tenure for all in ending inequality in land tenure rights, especially from a gender perspective, as key to sustainable urbanization. This panel will therefore discuss the gender dimension of urban land tenure and how this affects access to public spaces particularly from a land rights perspective. The discussion will therefore focus on how secure land rights for all and sustainable land use are key to ensuring successful implementation of the New Urban Agenda (Paragraph 35) and the SDGs especially, in particular targets 1.4 and 11.3. The expected outputs for this networking event are the following : (i) recommend gender and age responsive policies and tools to address the gender inequality in for sustainable, safe and resilient human settlements particularly from a land rights perspective, (ii) recognition of the importance of collaborative partnerships in addressing the gender dimension of urban land management as key to implementation of the New Urban Agenda (iii) provide concrete recommendations for the implementation of the New Urban Agenda through equitable and inclusive access to land for all, with specific ways to measure progress while at the same time promoting accountability.