Women’s place in African cities

Following growing debates on gender relationships in African societies, questions were raised about public policies implementation, civil society initiatives and artistic productions, exploring the notion of “gender of” and “gender in” Nigerian and African cities.Moderating the discourse, Molara Wood asked how gender friendly is our cities?

Prof. Myriam Houssay-Holzschuch, who has conducted extensive research on the concept of public spaces in South African cities like Cape Town, said that in African cities and average cities in the world, women are very much oppressed and dominated.

For her, whether it is in private or public space, it is male domination that is enforced through lots of different means that must be redressed.


She explained that even when the means by which women are dominated vary from country to country, there are also set of rules that may protect and not protect women. She cited rules that may be implemented or not implemented and police that are not helpful to women who have been attacked or assaulted as examples. “There are social norms that make perceive women badly,sexual or verbal harassment in the street. So, all these are really core to reducing the rhythm of movement and access to education, health for so many women,” she said.

On public policies implementation, Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Lagos State Government, Tabia Princewill, said that the elites who make policies are in the private space, which is why attention, was not paid to the designs of public space. “Policy makers need to design environments in such a way that it is safe especially for the safety of women. Security is a big issue for women in Lagos. The design of the city makes it hard for anyone to walk freely. Our public spaces are not safe. Policy makers should mind the less privileged when designing public spaces, she noted.

Answering the question if Lagos city is women friendly, Ireti Bakare-Yusuf said it is critically important to talk about gender in cities today. According to her, this is so ‘because we don’t think about the way the cities accept either gender. In fact, they have taken it for granted that the way Lagos is, is the way Lagos is. We forget that cities are gendered. And because they are gendered, they actually exclude others, whereas, what cities should be, is a fair and safe place for all. Hence it should be fair to each group.’

“Conversations like this develops, expands, grows wings and legs and start happening in different corridors and phases when started. And eventually, they make their way upward to shape politics, behaviours, governance, urban planning, estate management, cities planning and public development,” she said.

She believes that a city should be planned with a woman in mind and when that happens, “trust me, you have taken care of things for both genders including minorities. But, if you plan a city with just a man in mind, you just excluded those people. When we plan our cities in Nigeria, when we plan our estates, we must start thinking about women. Not so much about the kitchen; because that is what she is interested in, no. Both genders experience cities differently. Take it up to the point of view of how women experience things. And how do you do that? Do surveys, ask questions, and collate data. Because what you presume the answer would be is definitely not what the answer is.

“In other cities outside Nigeria like New York, and London, the average woman can run to catch a bus in her heels. In Lagos, she can’t. And I am comparing metropolis. So, let’s start having sidewalks in pavements.’