Housing and Gender Equity: A Global Literature Review

A home is more than shelter. It can shape a person’s health, safety, economic opportunity and ability to make decisions about their future.  

Yet women and girls around the world often face greater barriers to adequate housing, secure land rights and basic services. These barriers can affect nearly every part of their lives — from health and safety to financial security and opportunity.  

Housing and gender equity are deeply connected. Globally, women and girls perform 16 billion hours of unpaid care work each day, much of it in and around the home. In other words, women spend nearly three times as much of their day on unpaid care work as men. Women are also less likely than men to own property, more likely to experience housing insecurity, and often face a disproportionate share of the health and safety risks associated with inadequate housing. From exposure to indoor air pollution and unsafe sanitation to higher rates of eviction and displacement, housing conditions can affect nearly every aspect of women’s lives.

• Women are less likely than men to own homes in many countries due to lower incomes, unequal access to credit and discriminatory property systems. 
• In Mexico, only 35% of homes are registered to women, and just 34% of housing loans are granted to women. 
• Research from Colombia found that homeownership can increase women’s sense of security, decision-making power and ability to plan for the future. 

• Women and girls perform much of the world’s unpaid caregiving and household work. As a result, they may face greater exposure to housing-related hazards such as poor ventilation, indoor air pollution, mold, unsafe water and inadequate sanitation. 
• Studies in Turkey found chemicals in household dust that may affect women’s reproductive and hormonal health. 
• In many low- and middle-income countries, women may spend decades exposed to smoke from biomass fuels, increasing the risk of respiratory and cardiovascular disease.