UN special rapporteur housing report 2012 – Women & adequate housing

The UN has published a special housing report about “Women & adequate housing”.
According to this text:
2. The recognition and realization of every woman‘s right to adequate housing is necessary to ensuring that every woman is able to live a life with dignity. For millions of women, it is the home which is the centre of daily life, and, in many cultures, it is women who spend the most time at home. For women in particular, the status of their right to adequate housing is intimately connected to their security, health, livelihood and overall well-being.
3. However, adequate housing for women goes far beyond addressing basic material needs. Because of the close connection that exists between the right to adequate housing and the right to equality, adequate housing for women goes to the heart of social inequality and discrimination. When a woman is unable to access adequate housing and land mainly because she is a woman, she is not only affected in terms of her immediate material needs, she is also relegated to a subordinate and dependent position within society because of her gender. Ensuring that women have access to and control over, vital resources such as housing and land is essential to challenging and changing gender power structures and patterns of gender inequality