It is increasingly being recognized that effective management of the urbanization process across India is going to be imperative to ensure equitable and sustained development. Economic growth and gender equality are positively correlated. Although gender issues have been widely debated in the context of urbanization and urban poverty alleviation policy framework, it has yet to be addressed perceptibly. Encapsulating insightful policy recommendations exclusively on urban poverty and gender issues is the need of the hour for successful implementation of existing programmes, alongside keeping tabs on emerging issues relevant to the India Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation.

The State of the Urban Poor Report 2015 has been envisaged keeping in mind the critical need to examine gender issues relevant to urban poverty alleviation practices and mechanisms, as well as to find ways of bringing gender sensitivity into the urban management practices in India. The papers in this volume focus on themes such as dimensions of urban poverty; current urban poverty alleviation approaches; gender, shelter, and property rights; urban livelihoods; ensuring urban safety through gender sensitive approach; and access to basic urban services through gender perspective.

Table of Contents:
List of Tables, Figures, and Boxes Foreword Preface List of Abbreviations Introduction: How Prepared Are We to Bridge the Gender Gap? Om Prakash Mathur 1. Gender Perspectives in Addressing Urban Poverty: India’s Efforts Nandita Chatterjee 2. Urban Poverty in the 21st Century: A Gender Perspective Rachel Masika and Nicola Chanamuto 3. Urban Development and Urban Poverty Reduction Approaches: Gender Implications and Development Outcomes Rita Afsar 4. Untapped or Unusable Resource: Issues with Female Workforce in Urban India Mahalaya Chatterjee 5. Women’s Rights to Adequate Housing, Land, and Property in Urban India Shivani Chaudhry 6. Women’s Entitlement to Housing Security in Urban India Darshini Mahadevia 7. Embedding Gender Resource Gap Differential in Planning to Address Issues of Access, Ownership, Safety, and Equality for the Urban Poor Shivani Bhardwaj, Rajashree Ghosh, and Sunita Kotnala 8. Gender and Inclusion: Lessons from the Basic Services for the Urban Poor Sub-Mission of the JNNURM Diana Mitlin, Gayatri Menon, and Sundar Burra 9. Reaching Basic Services to the Urban Poor with a Gender Lens: Experiences of the Self-Employed Women’s Association Mirai Chatterjee 10. Malaysian Women in the Workforce and Poverty Eradication: Economic Growth with Equity Shanthi Thambiah 11. The Feminization of Poverty: Lessons from the American Experience Diana M. Pearce 12. Gender, Urban Poverty, and Social Protection: Lessons from Latin America Maxine Molyneux, Nicola Jones, and Maria Stavropoulou 13. Services for Whom? A Gendered Approach to Community Upgrading Giovana Beltrão 14. The Gendered Dimensions of Urban Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa Jacinta Muteshi-Strachan and Musabi Muteshi 15. Safety Matters: A Report of Women’s Safety Audits Conducted in Urban Slums in Madhya Pradesh Asmita Basu 16. Sexual Violence: Interface Between the Public and the Private Flavia Agnes and Audrey D’Mello About the Contributors