Women in the city of man: recent contributions to the gender and human settlements debate.

Administration, policy, and planning may have a weak or strong hold over the processes of urban economic, social and physical development. In all situations, however, assumptions about the role and identity of men and women influence the way in which members of each sex experience the urban environment. Much urban planning activity has been--and continues to be--gender-blind; in order to redress this deficiency, women's economic and social roles in urban society, their exclusion from economic opportunities and decision-making processes, and the discriminatory nature of much legislation. Drawing on examples from a wide range of countries in both the north and south, the report explores the gender dimensions of urban change, and the ways in which these intersect with broader issues of social diversity in cities are explored. Women's participation is considered, and the development of a gender perspective in the political area, the policy process, and planning practice is urged. In order that the knowledge and expertise of women and men organized at the community level are tapped, and their concerns responded to, the report calls for the development of both vertical linkages between different levels of policy making and administration, and horizontal linkages between actors involved in urban development.