Urbanisation And Urban Poverty In Developing Countries: A Gender Analysis

The present book “Urbanisation and Urban Poverty in Developing Countries” examines the role of gender participation in urbanisation and urban development and its impact on poverty reduction. Urbanisation involves major shifts in the ways people work and live, and offers unprecedented opportunities for improved standards of living as well as better environmental sustainability. Urbanization is also associated with gender-related transformations such as the greater engagement of women in paid employment, linked with a wider range of opportunities than in rural areas. This, in turn, has demographic implications including a decline in fertility levels decline in fertility levels, often higher proportions of women in the overall urban population, and a concentration of women-headed households in urban centres. At the same time, cash based urban economies mean that poor women are compelled, often from a very young age, to also engage in paid activities. In many instances this involves work in the lowest-paid formal and informal sector activities which, at times of economic crises, require increasingly long hours for the same income. Combined with cuts in the public provision of services, higher costs for food, water and transport, efforts to balance paid work and unpaid care work take a growing toll on women. A gendered perspective of urban poverty reveals the significance of non-income dimensions such as time poverty. It also highlights fundamental issues of equality and social justice by showing how women’s unequal position in urban labour market, their limited ability to secure assets independently from male relatives and their greater exposure to violence. Author has been conveyed comprehensive information in a simple non-technical way, and hope the subject-matter he has selected will be useful for students, and teacher of urban studies.