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Report Highlights Links Between Urbanization and Violence Against Women
Wednesday, June 4, 2008 4:03 PM
The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions has released a report documenting the gender-specific causes and consequences of urbanization that affect millions of women worldwide. According to the report, economic opportunity is the primary “pull” factor bringing women into cities, just as it is for men, but there are many gender-specific “push” factors contributing to women’s urbanization, such as domestic violence, harmful cultural practices like polygamy, disinheritance, and the social stigma of living with HIV/AIDS in rural communities. Once they arrive in urban slums, women face rampant domestic violence and rape, and suffer disproportionately from such problems as inadequate living conditions, scarcity of services, housing insecurity, lack of privacy, employment discrimination, and unequal pay. In addition to documenting the problems women experience in urban slums, the report recommends ten specific ways to address them, which include combating violence against women in all its forms and raising awareness about women’s human rights. For the full report, click here. Compiled from: Women’s U.N. Report Network; “Women Urbanisation and Slums – New COHRE Report,” Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions, 28 May 2008.
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