Joint Submission On the Housing Bill by Housing Rights and Gender Working Group.

The Housing Bill was intended to give content to the constitutional right of access to adequate housing. The Working Group’s submission addressed the fact that the Bill’s provisions appeared to be gender-neutral in a society were discrimination against women was ingrained. It proposed gender equality to be included in the Bill as an integral principle. The Working Group undertakes a short gender analysis of the housing allocation process and illustrate with the use of various case studies how unequal gender relations undermine women’s ability to access housing equally. The Working Group then proceeds to make recommendations for the attainment of the constitutional guarantees of both substantive gender equality and adequate housing to be included in the provisions of the Housing Bill.