Women’s Health and the World’s Cities

This collection of essays, written by urban planners, scholars, medical practitioners, and activists, examines the impact of urban living on the well-being of women and girls in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the United States.

Growing urbanization affects women and men in fundamentally different ways, but the relationship between gender and city environments has been ignored or misunderstood. Women and men play different roles, frequent different public areas, and face different health risks. Women suffer disproportionately from disease, injury, and violence because their access to resources is often more limited than that of their male counterparts. Yet, when women are healthy and safe, so are their families and communities. Urban policy makers and public health professionals need to understand how conditions in densely populated places can help or harm the well-being of women in order to serve this large segment of humanity.

Women's Health and the World's Cities illuminates the intersection of gender, health, and urban environments. This collection of essays examines the impact of urban living on the physical and psychological states of women and girls in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the United States. Urban planners, scholars, medical practitioners, and activists present original research and compelling ideas. They consider the specific needs of subpopulations of urban women and evaluate strategies for designing spaces, services, and infrastructure in ways that promote women's health. Women's Health and the World's Cities provides urban planners and public health care providers with on-the-ground examples of projects and policies that have changed women's lives for the better.

Foreword
—Amy Gutmann
Introduction: Developing Urban Areas as if Gender Matters
—Afaf Ibrahim Meleis

PART I: WOMEN'S HEALTH IN URBAN AREAS
Chapter 1. Women's Health and the City: A Comprehensive Approach for the Developing World
—Julio Frenk and Octavio Gómez-Dantés
Chapter 2. Policy for a Better Future: A Focus on Girls and Women
—Ruth Levine
Chapter 3. Girls' Health and Educational Needs in Urban Environments
—Varina Tjon-A-Ten, Brad Kerner, Shweta Shukla, and Anne Hochwalt
Chapter 4. Making Cities Safe for Women and Girls: Integrating a Gender Perspective into Urban Health and Planning
—Claudia Garcia-Moreno and Manupreet Chawla

PART II: URBANIZATION, SPACE, AND GEOGRAPHY
Chapter 5. Design of Healthy Cities for Women
—Eugenie L. Birch
Chapter 6. Are Women Victims, or Are They Warriors?
—Sheela Patel
Chapter 7. Women with Disabilities and Cities
—Rosaly Correa-de-Araujo
Chapter 8. The Health and Well-Being of Immigrant Women in Urban Areas
—DeAnne K. Hilfinger Messias

PART III: MODELS OF EXCELLENCE
Chapter 9. Women's Health in the Urban Community: National Institutes of Health Perspective
—Vivian W. Pinn and Nida H. Corry
Chapter 10. Transforming Urban Environments
—Diane Cornman-Levy, Grace Dyrness, Jane Golden, David Gouverneur, and Jeane Ann Grisso
Chapter 11. Bearing Witness: Women in Cities as Agents of Transformation for God
—Grace R. Dyrness
Chapter 12. Accessibility to Health Care in Urban Environments
—Francisca M. Mwangangi
Chapter 13. Mobilizing Communities to Prevent Violence Against Women and HIV in Kampala, Uganda
—Tina C. Musuya
Chapter 14. Philanthropy and Its Impact on Urban Women's Health
—Katherina M. Rosqueta and Carol A. McLaughlin
Afterword
—Susan M. Wachter

Notes
List of Contributors
References
Index
Acknowledgments