Women's Empowerment and Gender Equality in Urban Settings: New Vulnerabilities and Opportunities

Urban settings currently provide the main arena for reshaping gender relations. The process of urbanization provides both advantages and disadvantages for gender equality and the empowerment of women. In turn, gender relations are often critical in shaping the urbanization process itself, affecting decisions as to who migrates to cities, as well as how the household unit, family roles and local community organizations will be structured in the urban context.