In March 2012, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) held the Subregional Workshop on Gender and Urban Poverty in South Asia to share experiences and enhance lateral learning among ADB and its project partners on addressing gender and social inclusion issues in urban development projects in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. Participants included senior government officials, nongovernment organizations, community-based organizations, researchers, ADB urban and gender specialists, and representatives of international development agencies.This report presents the synthesis of knowledge, experiences, good practices, and recommendations shared at the forum with the aim of assisting ADB and its partner agencies in the planning of urban development projects to facilitate gender- and socially inclusive outcomes and reduce poverty in South Asia.

Developing regions are set to account for the vast majority of future urban growth, and women and girls will become the majority inhabitants of these locations in the Global South. This is one of the first books to detail the challenges facing poorer segments of the female population who commonly reside in ‘slums’. It explores the variegated disadvantages of urban poverty and slum-dwelling from a gender perspective. This book revolves around conceptualisation of the ‘gender-urban-slum interface’ which explains key elements to understanding women’s experiences in slum environments. It has a specific focus on the ways in which gender inequalities are can be entrenched but also alleviated. Included is a review of the demographic factors which are increasingly making cities everywhere ‘feminised spaces’, such as increased rural-urban migration among women, demographic ageing, and rising proportions of female-headed households in urban areas. Discussions focus in particular on education, paid and unpaid work, access to land, property and urban services, violence, intra-urban mobility, and political participation and representation. This book will be of use to researchers and professionals concerned with gender and development, urbanisation and rural-urban migration.

Divided Int Eight Chapters-Introduction-Women Empowerment In India-Gender Issues Of Women In Pakistan-Bangladesh-Development Of Women In Sri Lanka, Social Status Of Women In Nepal, Bhutanese Women, Women Empowerment In Maldives And An Appendix.

This report provides an overview of important urban poverty questions. What defines urban poverty and how is urban poverty being measured? What other factors beyond consumption poverty need to be tackled? Who are the urban poor? What relations exist between urban poverty and city size? What linkages exist between urbanization, income, and urban poverty? What policy responses to urban poverty are implemented in selected Asian countries? The report served as a background study for the International Policy Workshop on Urban Poverty and Inclusive Cities in Asia, organized by the Asian Development Bank and the International Poverty Reduction Center held from 24-25 June 2013 in Suqian, Jiangsu Province, the People's Republic of China.

This book examines the contradictions between the prevailing ideologies and cultural practices and the economic interests of women in poor households in Asia. Here the primacy of economic needs necessitates that all members of the household, women, men and children engage in income generating employment; yet at the same time prevailing ideologies often impose restrictions on women's work. Thus caught in the poverty trap they face conflicting choices between survival needs and social acceptability. This collection of essays demonstrate the differing or complementary roles played by different agents such as the State, private employers, religious groups, the community and the family and their effects on the lives of impoverished women in India, Pakistan, Iran, Sri Lanka, Korea, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore. The degree of complementarity or contradiction varies according to country, class, caste and ethnicity. What is of interest, however, is the way they are manifested and in whose interest they are resolved.

Publisher Description

Across the South Asian region, water determines livelihoods and in some cases even survival. However, water also creates exclusions. Access to water, and its social organisation, are intimately tied up with power relations. This book provides an overview of gender, equity and water issues relevant to South Asia. The essays empirically illustrate and theoretically argue how gender intersects with other axes of social difference such as class, caste, ethnicity, age and religion to shape water access, use and management practices. Divided into six thematic sections, each of which starts with an introduction of relevant concepts, debates and theories, the book looks at laws and rights; policies; technologies and intervention strategies. In all, the book clearly shows how understanding and changing the use, distribution and management of water is conditional upon understanding and accommodating gender relations. Published by Zubaan.