Assemblies - Women's Assembly: Co-creating gender-transformative strategies for adequate housing for all women and girls - Opening session (WUF13)

Okay.
I think we have everyone and we're going to go ahead and get started.
For anyone I may have missed at the very beginning, if you didn't hear me, please get a headset if you do not already have one.
With that, Excellencies, distinguished guests, colleagues, partners, friends and allies.
It gives me great pleasure to formally welcome you now and to formally open this year's Women's Assembly at the WUF13 on the topic of housing the world, safe, resilient cities and communities.
So as I mentioned, we will have interpretation for this session available in all the UN languages.
So that's Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish, and Azerbijani.
The format for today's session, thank you.
We're going to start with an opening panel and you can see our distinguished guests here in the front with me that I'll introduce in just a moment.
We're going to then follow that up with an interactive session in the form of breakout group.
With that, I'm honored to really welcome our distinguished opening panel speakers today.
I'm honored to have with us the Minister of Bahrain, Her Excellency, Amna Bin Ahmed Ad Romani, and on behalf of our host country, Azerbaijan, we have Bahan Mordova We have Kari Ishikawa representing UN Women and our keynote speaker, doctor Amina Gharib Fakim of Mauritius.
And finally, on behalf of Civil Society, we have doctor Is Mahar aga.
Welcome and thank you all for being here.
So to kick us off with our opening session now, I have the honor to invite Her Excellency, Amna Bin Ahmed Afaini, who is the Minister of Housing and Urban Planning.
Your Excellency, you have the floor.
Thank you so much.
I'm so happy to be here with you today.
Please allow me, and you give my speech in Arabic.
In the name of Allan, most benevolent, ladies and gentlemen, dear ladies, may the peace of Allah be upon you.
It's a great pleasure to be here in the Women's Assembly in the WUF 13, and the housing of the World safe and resilient cities and communities.
I want to start thanking the UN habitat and all partners for the organization of this important platform that gives priority for women and human development.
To speak about housing is not simply to have housing units, but it goes beyond this, highly related to human dignity and family stabilization and the welfare and That's why the good policies and comprehensive policies requires a change making the women and girls as a priority and to respond to their needs.
In Bahrain, we believe that the empowerment of women is the basic point for sustainable development and the Bahraini women with full support of his Excellency, the King Ben Falif and the support of the Crown Prince and the Prime Minister and all the important activities of Amer Sabha Ben Ibrahim, the head of the Women Council.
They allowed the Bahraini women to go from empowerment into full partnership in the national development, including the sector of housing and urban development.
We have five women ministers in the most important strategic sectors like health and housing and we are trying to support housing activities in order to support the family and have a comprehensive housing and 6,500 ladies got our activities and now including widows and supporting mothers, considering the different family conditions, giving equal opportunities in order to have the required facilities and support.
We developed a also special services to marginalized women, including all women supporting children and considering aspects like the income and age in order to have equal opportunity for everybody.
On the housing development, we are taking a pioneering effort in order to include in our working groups 74 female engineer and housing experts to develop different projects and includes the the control and development of different urban projects and women form 90% of the team that planned all the new housing and urban planning projects in Bahraa in order to assure the urban sustainability and to provide comprehensive services.
All these experience indicate not only equality but also looks for comprehensive solutions could serve all the problems in the women are related to families, to care to welfare and to normal life.
They are basic elements in order to have comprehensive cities and comprehensive housing.
I would like to emphasize here our emphasis of the housing policy that allows women to have adequate and safe housing and to develop housing communities that provides a secure environment for women in order to assure the family establishment and to emphasize the participation of women and all decision making activities related to housing and emphasize international experience.
In conclusion, I would like to h to emphasize that the development of cts cannot be done without the full participation of women in development and in practice and the support of women and we are in such a way investing in the development and safety of the whole society.
Thank you.
Thank you so much, Excellency, and for reminding us that a gender responsive approach to housing also means putting women in decision making roles.
So I'd now like to welcome, on behalf of our host country, Azerbijan Bahar Modova, who is chair of the State Committee on Family, Women and Children Affairs.
You have the floor.
Hashim Neves Azerbija Azerbijan First of all, I am expressing my deep gratitude to all participants and all our friends who are representing Azerbijan.
Thank you for participation.
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues.
It's a great honor to address all participants on this important event, organized within the framework of World Urban Forum searching.
I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the organizer for placing gender equality, inclusive urban development, and the right to adequate housing high on the global agenda.
This discussion highlights the strong link between urban planning, social welfare, sustainable development, and gender equality.
The quality of people's lives depends not only on economic opportunities, but also on their ability to live in safe, accessible, and people centered urban spaces.
Today, women and girls in many parts of the world still face serious challenges in accessing adequate housing and safe living conditions.
Armed conflicts, humanitarian crisis, and climate change increase the vulnerability and limit access to essential services.
At the same time, inequal access to property rights, economic opportunities, and social protection mechanisms depends existing inequalities.
Therefore, gender sensitive approaches have become a vital part of the strategic agenda shaping the future of cities.
As a country that has experienced the consequences of conflict for many years, Azerbijan promotes a sustainable reconstruction model and people centered urban development in the post conflict period.
In the large scale restoration and reconstruction of our liberated territories, we are implementing modern urban planning principles and smart solutions.
Green growth, digital innovation, social integration, and secure living conditions are pursued in a coordinated way with equal opportunities for women and girls as a key priority.
This vision is also reflected in the development model of our capital city.
Baku service as a modern urban model promoting safety, accessibility, and sustainable solutions.
Particular attention is given to public spaces, mobility, green infrastructure, and social services.
Bakus hosting of major international platforms reflects the growing role of cities in global dialogue and cooperation.
This alliance fully is the voice of cities approach promoted by UN Habitat.
Distinguish participants.
The effectiveness of modern urban policy depends on coordination among different sectors within a unified development framework.
In this regard, gender transformative approaches must be seen as an essential part of urban governance and sustainable development.
Experience shows that the equal participation of women in strategic planning and decision making significantly improves cities, making them safer, more accessible, and more responsive to people's needs.
To advance this approach, Azerbijan emphasized strengthening cooperation between government institutions, the private sector, and civil society.
2026 titled Promoting women's participation in architecture and Urban Planning processes.
The event was organized by the State Committee for Family, Women and Children's Affairs.
The State Committee for Urban Planning and architecture, the small and medium business Development Agency, and the Union of Architects of Azerbijan such initiatives help strengthen multilateral cooperation and promote participatory planning approaches.
At the same time, Cop 29 hosted Ibaku in 2024 once again showed that climate resilience, social inclusion, and urban development must be addressed together.
The future of sustainable cities depends on integrated policies that consider the needs of people, especially women and vulnerable groups.
In this regard, it's crucial to strengthen legal and institutional mechanisms.
Women's participation in urban planning and climate policy decisions must also be expanded.
Safety, mobility, and access to social services must be systematically integrated into urban planning frameworks.
International cooperation in promoting inclusive and sustainable models should be strengthened further.
Dear colleagues, building cities that respond to the needs of women and girls means shaping a safer, more sustainable, and more human future.
People centered urban development model requires a shared commitment grounded in solidarity, equal opportunity, and sustainable progress.
Azerbijan remains ready to continue supporting international cooperation and the exchange of experience in this area.
We believe that the discussions and outcomes of W Urban Forum 13 will help develop more inclusive, sustainable, and people oriented cities.
Thank you for your attention.
Thank you so much for your remarks and for reminding us that sustainable urbanization requires us to stay people centered, solutions focused, and putting women and girls voices and needs at the center.
I'm now happy to welcome to the stage Korie Iska, who is country representative in Georgia and liaison for the South Caucuses, who will be delivering her remarks on behalf of U and Women's Executive Director, Sima Bajo.
The floor is yours.
Thank you very much, Kathleen.
It is my honor to address you on behalf of UN Woman Executive Director, Madam Sima Bafz who very much wished to join our assembly this morning but she was regrettably unable to do so prior to engagement.
Excellencies, distinguished colleagues and partners, dear friends, thank you for convening this space to center women's voices experience in the 13th World Urban Forum more broadly in agenda on a sustainable urban development.
We come together in a difficult time marked by poly crisis and unprecedented backlash against longstanding gender equality and women's rights commitment.
We are only four years away from the deadline for achieving global goals, a staggering 283 years away from closing the gap in legal protections, remove discriminatory laws, including those related to the woman's inheritance and land rights.
Only one in seven countries led by women and women make up only 26% of the local counselors with only two countries, Bolivia and Iceland having achieved 50% of elected seats of local governments.
Seven 70% of the human rights defenders, journalists, activists report having experienced online violence in the context of their work and advocacy in efforts to silence them and push them out of the public life.
Today, as we gather here for the Women's Assembly, we must acknowledge these challenges which often arise because of our collective achievements, and we must continue celebrate our collective gains.
Our host country, Azerbijan is working to promote gender equality across all sectors.
Including urban development through national action plan on gender equality for 2026 to 2028.
Thank you, miss Bahar, for leading this process, ensuring the gender equality is addressed throughout the sectors.
Girls are suing boys in school completions, women are gaining seats in Parliament and just in five years.
1990 positive legal reform helped to remove discriminatory law and establish gender equality legislative framework across the world.
Today, through Safe Cities and the Safe Public Spaces Global Initiative, a founding global program in UN Woman, where we are commemorating 15 year anniversary this year.
Thank you very much for all the countries supporting this, together with the UN woman.
Gaps in legislation and policy in sexual harassment in public spaces in national and local level have been addressed in over 25 countries, including Morocco, India, Bolivia, and Tanzania.
This world forum asks us to reflect on housing to the world.
To do this, we must consider those most left behind.
For more women facing multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, discriminatory laws and policies can further restrict access to safe, adequate housing.
This is particularly acute for women living in an impoverished neighborhoods, migrant women and girls, IDPs who access to housing may be shaped by gender in qualities, anti migrant sentiment, xenophobia, and restrictive migration policies.
For them, adequate housing is not only about having a roof over the head, but it's about safety, dignity, and protection.
Housing the world for the safe, resilient cities community therefore requires us to think about housing beyond shelter, reflect on how it contributes to hinder gender equality.
We must address barriers to address adequate housing, confronting other issues, including that gender based violence is a primary driver of housing insecurity.
We must connect persistent gender discrimination in gaps in economic inequality, including related to women's equal incomes, employment opportunities, care for work, and housing insecurity, as well as to consider who gets the concrete policies.
We must also connect this agenda to advocate for laws and policy that reflect needs of men and woman to ensure housing policies are comprehensive, including housing that requisite sustainable energy transitions and climate action was highlighted by Madame Bahn.
We must build a wall that prioritize women's rights, safe public spaces, free of sexual harassment and other forms of violence.
This includes adapt gender responsive approaches to urban transportation planning, and facilitates women's care work, ensures access to basic essential services, guarantees women's rights to water and sanitation.
Together, we will continue to share this message from this assembly, women's Assembly, to be heard and taken up through the week and we return to respective cities and community.
Thank you very much and we wish you all a very productive and fruitful discussion today.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for your remarks and really for reminding us of the importance of bringing together different agendas in order to fully respond to the complexities of women's daily lives.
And now, for our keynote opening remarks, I invite doctor Amina Gi Fakim, who is professor in biodiversity science, an entrepreneur and author, and also served as the sixth President of the Republic of Mertius.
You have the floor.
Thank you.
Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
It is an immense privilege to be joining you today, and this has been made possible by the active participation of the Nizani Ganja International Center based in Baku.
Today, I will try and focus on how the power of gender equality in urban development can be unleashed.
It is a fact that environmental degradation, climate change, natural disasters, and armed conflicts threaten the liability of towns and cities.
Since 1975, there have been fourfold increase in the number of recorded natural disasters, including tsunamis, tropical cyclones, earthquakes, and flooding.
Seven out of the ten natural disasters are believed to be climate related.
Yet cities are known to be at the forefront of human progress, serving as dynamic hubs of economic, social, and cultural activity.
Also, it is crucial to recognize nonetheless, that cities are not neutral entities.
They have the potential to either perpetuate or challenge existing inequalities.
Gender equality in urban development plays a pivotal role in creating inclusive urban spaces and nurturing thriving societies.
To promote greater gender equality, the current development of urban infrastructure and the built environment needs to be redesigned to be more inclusive.
There's also a need to improve policies and programs where governments and urban planners can benefit from understanding how gender affects women and men differently as victims of disasters.
Also, there is a need to acknowledge that the knowledge and skills of both can help them and their communities to survive.
Viewing families, communities, towns, cities, and regions from a gender perspective requires a radical shift both in thinking and in actions.
In fact, this observation reinforces what many development agencies have noted that women tend to have lower rates of decision making and participation, for example, disaster management activities, and yet they are often the severely affected post disaster when violence and assaults escalate in disaster contexts.
Ladies and gentlemen, to be able to understand the gendered nature of urban spaces and to truly unleash the power of gender equality, we must first recognize that urban spaces are not gender neutral.
Throughout history, cities have been planned and designed for a predominantly male perspective, often neglecting the diverse needs and experiences of women, girls, and other marginalized genders.
Think about the countless times you have walked through a poorly lit alley or hesitated to use public transportation late at night and not be able to work late due to lack of affordable childcare facilities.
These experiences shaped by patriarchal societal norms limit women's mobility, safety, and access to resources in urban environment.
Ladies and gentlemen, how do we create inclusive urban spaces? Gender equality in urban development requires intentional designing and planning cities that cater to the needs of all genders.
It's about acknowledging that women's experiences and perspectives are invaluable in shaping urban environments.
I recently read something very interesting I'll share with you on how redesigning a neighborhood park, a group of women came forward to emphasize the importance of having safe and accessible pathways, seating areas, and proper lighting.
Their insight highlighted the need for inclusive public spaces that enable women to navigate the city confidently, free of fear or discomfort.
The first point is safe and accessible public spaces.
Imagine a city where well lit, well maintained public spaces, featuring clear pathways, accessible amenities, and inclusive public transportation system.
These elements empower individuals of all genders to navigate these cities safely and confidently.
It is about creating spaces that accommodate diverse needs and foster a sense of belonging for everyone.
Affordable and adequate housing affordability are critical aspects of promoting gender equality in urban areas.
These considerations can alleviate the burdens that disproportionately affect women, allowing them to thrive in recent environment.
The third one is inclusive economic opportunities.
Gender equality in urban development involve promoting equal access to economic opportunities within cities.
It means addressing gender wage gaps, fair work practices, inclusive workplaces, fostering entrepreneurship amongst women, and ensuring equitable access to education, skill development program.
These opportunities also need to be aware of the need of flexible working hours that allow for the mobility of parents, especially those sole guardians of children.
The mustn't forget also community participation.
Encouraging meaningful participation of women in urban decision making, our process are crucial.
It's about ensuring that their voices are heard and their unique perspective are integrated into the planning and development of cities.
Because urbanization is not only an issue facing cities, but complex interaction, links and interdependencies between rural and urban population.
Yet, many decision makers and policymakers still fail to recognize the dynamics of rural and urban experiences of poverty.
By unleashing the full potential of the female labor force in urban areas, we can bring about economic benefits that go far and beyond a single city or town.
By recognizing, addressing, embracing the gendered nature of urban space, we create environment that empower women, girls, and marginal genders, promoting the safety, well being, and full participation in society.
Because by embracing gender equality in urban development, we will and we can build inclusive, sustainable cities that work for everyone.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for these remarks and for reminding us that while women are disproportionately affected by many things in the urban sphere, including safety, care, mobility, they're also disproportionately excluded from decision making spaces and transformation is needed to turn that on its head.
Finally, I want to invite, on behalf of civil society, but also the Advisory Group for gender issues, Ines Madarga, the UNESCO chair on Gender and Science, Technology and Innovation, also Professor of Urban Planning at Universidad Polytechnica of Madrid to join us here.
Thank you.
Let's see how I can manage this.
Hello.
Thank you very much, Catherine, for this invitation.
Thank you, distinguished delegates, Your Excellencies, colleagues and friends.
On behalf of the advisory group on gender issues to an habitat, Aggie, I warmly welcome you to the Women's Assembly of the World Urban Forum 13 in Baku.
It is a great honor for me to chair Agi at this such crucial moment for the global urban agenda.
I would like to begin by recognizing the extraordinary role that women's groups and women's associations have played in shaping UN habitats and gender policies over the past decades.
Since the 1980s, women's movements around the world have acted not only as advocates but also as strategic partners in transforming urban policies.
From Habitat one 30th anniversary we celebrate this year to habitat two in Istanbul and Habitat three in Quito, women have contributed to making gender equality, access to housing, land, services, and public spaces central pillars of sustainable urban development.
This collective commitment led to the establishment of Agi in 2012, officially launched during six in Naples, Italy, Agi is an independent advisory body composed of women's organizations from around the world, working to support UN habitat in promoting women's empowerment and gender equality across all policies, programs, and governance processes at UN Habitat.
Today, this women's Assembly focuses on a theme that is both urgent and a very important topic of public policy, women and housing.
For women, housing means safety, dignity, economic independence, health, and the possibility to participate fully in social life.
Without secure and adequate housing, women remain more exposed to poverty, violence, displacement, and exclusion.
Housing is not simply physical shelter.
Across the world, women, especially those living in informal settlements, conflict areas or communities vulnerable to climate change, continue to face profound inequalities in access to property rights, land, affordable housing, infrastructure, and finance.
Yet women are also the primary actors of resilience and recovery.
They rebuild homes, protect communities, organize neighborhoods, and networks and lead local solutions for more sustainable cities.
If we want to build truly inclusive urban futures, we must move beyond representing women merely as vulnerable groups.
Women are agents of change, innovators and leaders of urban transformation.
Gender equality cannot remain a secondary objective.
It must become a structural principle of urban governance and housing policies.
As Age and myself personally as a professor of urban planning, working on gender equality in the environment for many decades, we believe that the new UN Habitat Strategic Plan 2026 29 must and is already fully integrating women's perspectives across all thematic areas, particularly housing and urban regeneration policies.
Women must participate equally in decision making processes, monitoring mechanisms, and the design of urban policies.
We also call for stronger support for grassroots women's organization, gender responsive budgeting, and gender disaggregated data collection.
The women's movement has a capacity to connect institutional frameworks with the lived realities of communities in bringing accountability, intersectional approaches, and a transformative vision.
This is especially important today as cities face increasingly complex challenges linked to climate change, conflicts, migration, and growing inequalities.
Allow me to conclude with one key message, there can be no sustainable urban future without housing justice for women.
When women have equal access to safe, adequate, and affordable housing, cities become more resilient, more peaceful, and more democratic for everyone.
Women's leadership is not only necessary for urban transformation, it is indispensable.
Thank you very much for your attention and welcome to this work.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for those remarks and also for reminding us that while we're discussing here at the Women's Assembly some of these important gaps in gender inclusion in sustainable urbanization, these discussions are not new and many women have been working in their communities and cities and governments to make this change over the years, over the last decades.
And many of those women are here with us on the stage and in the room.
So thank you to all of you.
Please join me now in giving a warm round of applause and thank you welcome to our opening panelists here today.
Thank you.
So we are going to now shift gears in the women's Assembly.
We are moving from the opening plenary discussion into the breakout group discussions.
Can I see a show of hands who has been to a women's assembly before? Okay.
I see a few hands, some grouped right over here, but not too many.
For those of you who have never been to a women's assembly before, you should know that this is not a space where we just sit down and listen to other people.
This is really a space of exchange, of engagement, of sharing, and co creating the agenda items we want to see carried forward not just today but throughout the week.
And so we are going to be moving on to a different part of the day.
And so to get us warmed up and ready for that, we are going to first get a better sense of who is with us in the room.
And so this will require people to stand up and sit down.
So if you are from Latin America and the Caribbean region, please stand up.
Thank you.
If you are from the Arab States, please stand up.
Thank you.
If you are from North America, please stand up.
If you are from Asia and the Pacific, please stand up.
If you are from Africa, please stand up.
If you are from Europe and Central Asia, please stand up.
And if you are from Azerbijan, please stand up and thank you for welcoming us.
Good to see you.
Now, to move on to the next phase of who is in the room, we want to understand a little bit about what stakeholder group you come from.
If you are a grassroots woman, please stand up.
If you are from an academia university, please stand up.
Thank you.
Good.
If you are working in urban planning, please stand up.
Yes, no.
Good.
Civil Society, women's rights organizations.
Okay.
Thank you.
What about governments, local government, national governments? A number of you.
Good.
Thank you.
UN multilateral system.
Good.
Thank you.
What about the activists in the room? Do you consider yourself an activist? Please stand up.
People, yes.
We all wear many hats.
Yes.
Some people are getting up and down.
We're getting our exercise in today too.
Now, the final thing in getting to know you here is we want to see who has been to WUF before.
If this is your first World Urban forum, please stand up.
Yes, welcome.
Thank you.
If you have been to at least two, please stand up.
At least two, you've been M.
What about three, four, five, six, you need to stand, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11, 12, 13.
Well done.
So we do have some World Urban form veterans in the room that now you can spot and you can ask questions to afterwards.
As I mentioned, we're moving into another part of the session today, which is the breakout groups.
And in order to walk you through a little bit about what to expect for the next part of the session, We're going to let you know what is going to happen.
There's seven different groups with us today.
You can see them already written on the slide that we will leave up here for a few minutes.
The group moderators have already been identified, and I will introduce them in just a moment.
They will briefly then explain to you the objectives for that individual breakout group, how their group will run, and um and then we will break off into different areas.
Now, as you can see, the room is set up now more for a plenary style exchange, and so there is going to be a moment of resetting the room that's going to happen in just a moment.
So get ready for that in just a minute.
In the meantime, let's look at who is going to be leading these group discussions.
The first group on leaving no one behind in adequate housing is going to be led by Ana Christina Ingles and Kalpana Visfana.
Can you please stand up so people can spot who you are, Anna and Calpana? I saw Kopin over here before.
Sorry.
Yeah.
Maybe come up here just so people can put eyes on you.
Group number one, please.
Then group number two is on women transforming neighborhoods and cities.
We have Penny Kerrigan and Shresj.
If you can please join me up here, group number two.
Jude, do you want to come up here? It'll be easier for people to see in the back of the room.
Thank you.
Then group number three, we have on financing adequate housing.
You can come up so people can see.
We'll do an order here.
Financing adequate housing with a gender transformative approach.
We have Marina Munez, Garcia and Dorothy Baz.
Are you here, Marina and Dorothy? Oh, I couldn't see you.
You were exactly in my blind spot.
Perfect.
Thank you.
Welcome.
On climate resilient and sustainable housing, we have Mate Rodriguez and Josslyn Mutio Zao.
If you can please join me up here.
This is group number four.
Group number five on housing systems is Maryam Magidova and Isa Yonder.
If you can please join me up here.
Group number five.
A lot of support for group number five.
Group number six on housing rights in crises and post crisis conflicts, we have Nasim, we have Nasim Maashidi and Janea Puisto If you can please join me up here.
Perfect.
Then group number seven.
This group, important to know, will be held in Azerbaijani.
It's an Azerbijani language group discussion.
We'll have Shamsa, Mustafaa, and Khalsa Sadiva.
I hope that was okay.
These are your group leads.
I hope that everyone has spotted the group where they want to spend some time.
Do you feel you have some ideas to contribute to? As we take a moment to reset the room, Claudio, that's still happening with the reset of the room? Perfect.
Everyone, including all of you has an assignment to do.
Your assignment is you have to make a new friend, so not someone that you already know that you're happy to see again, someone you've never seen before and spoken to.
Introduce yourselves and find one thing in common with them.
And as you walk around and do that, we'll reset the room and then we'll reconvene in just a few minutes.
Thank you.