ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a brief introduction to the UN Habitat III, Draft ‘New Urban Agenda’, which gives urgency to urbanisation as an engine of economic growth, investment, and prosperity and job creation in the coming years. The New Urban Agenda appears inclusive of the informal economy and the urban poor. It has been a matter of concern that workforce participation of women, in general, and in urban areas, particularly, has been rather low. The percentage of women in informal employment was just a little higher at 82 per cent. The service sector—other than trade—including transport, banking and communications, constituted about 38 per cent of urban employment in 2011–12—36 per cent for men and 46 per cent for women. Home-based women workers are vulnerable as they are dependent on the agency or their male counterparts for market access and sale of their goods. The chapter concludes with the possible ways to inclusive urbanisation.
