A Home in the City: Women's Struggle to Secure Adequate Housing in Urban Tanzania

Abstract

This Report presents the findings of this research effort. Part I sets out the history of Tanzania's informal settlements, including an overview of the evolution that led to the current housing crisis. Part I then reviews Tanzania's obligations under international and domestic law regarding the right to adequate housing and intersecting issues.Part II documents women's struggle to obtain adequate housing in urban Tanzania. This Part first identifies the multiple barriers women face in securing and retaining housing in Tanzanian cities, including discriminatory laws and practices, deeply entrenched patriarchal attitudes, and HIV/AIDS stigma and discrimination. Part II then explores how the experience of living without adequate housing disparately impacts women's lives. Specifically, because women spend a disproportionate amount of time in informal settlements, they experience more acutely the lack of basic services that is characteristic of these poor urban areas. Moreover, female residents of informal settlements face increased exposure to gender-based violence and health risks, among other hazards.Finally, Part III examines the way forward. It begins by providing a brief overview of several Tanzanian initiatives aimed at improving informal settlements. It then offers recommendations aimed at the full realization of women's right to adequate housing.

Exploring the “feminisation of poverty” in relation to women’s work and home-based enterprise in slums of the Global South

“…At communal sources, in turn, women frequently have to compete with one another for space, or in taking turns to fill buckets from neighbourhood faucets, exacerbating the stress and conflict entailed in routine chores (Miraftab, 2001). The costs of water purchased on the open market, such as from cart vendors or tankers may also be prohibitive, at up to 8-10 times higher from private than public suppliers (Chant, 2007b;Hughes and Wickeri, 2011). …”

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Harsh Realities: Marginalized Women in Cities of the Developing World

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