Half the world's population now lives in cities. Governments and international development agencies have made housing the urban poor a priority, but few focus on women's needs. Based on research conducted in Ahmedabad in collaboration with the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA), this book maps the constraints and opportunities that low-income women throughout the Global South face in securing property, which remains overwhelmingly in male hands. Their experiences and vulnerabilities open a window to assess not only land tenure and property laws but also potential solutions such as microcredit financing and diverse theoretical approaches to gender and development. 

Bipasha Baruah is an assistant professor of international studies at California State University, Long Beach. She has also served as a gender specialist on CIDA’s Eastern Caribbean Economic Management Program and as a consultant on gender and environmental issues to Foreign Affairs Canada.

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