Need For Gender Equity in Urban Bureaucracy

Syllabus: GS2/Governance; Issues Related To Women

Context

• The lack of gender equity in India’s municipal and urban administrative structures has a significant impact on India’s urban governance like urban planning, service delivery, and overall inclusivity.

Need of Urban Governance

• Global Scenario: More than 4 billion people — over half of the world’s population—now live in urban areas.
  • Nearly 68% of the global population is expected to reside in cities by 2050 (UN projections).
  • The number of megacities (cities with over 10 million inhabitants) is projected to increase significantly by 2035.
• India’s Status: Over 35% of the population lives in urban areas in India and it is expected to surpass 600 million by 2030, over 800 million people by 2050, and is expected to grow over 60% of the population by the 2060s.
  • As of 2022, women constituted just 20% of the IAS, with even lower presence in urban planning, engineering, and transport.
• In policing, women make up only 11.7% of the force (Bureau of Police Research and Development, 2023).

Impacts of Neglecting Gender Equity in Urban Governance

• Policy Blind Spots: Urban policies often fail to reflect the needs of women and gender minorities without diverse representation.
  • For instance, inadequate street lighting, poor sanitation facilities, or a lack of safe public transportation disproportionately affect women’s mobility and safety.
• Loss of Human Capital: Excluding talented women from decision-making roles means wasting a vast reservoir of skills, perspectives, and leadership potential that could greatly enhance governance outcomes.
• Widening Inequality: When urban planning ignores gendered experiences, it reinforces existing social and economic disparities — particularly for women in low-income or marginalized communities.
• Missed Innovation and Creativity: Gender-inclusive bureaucracies can generate more holistic solutions to complex urban challenges — from climate resilience to digital access.
• Undermined Global Goals: Gender equity is central to SDG 5 (UN) and intersects with several others. Ignoring it stalls progress on international development commitments.

Efforts, Initiatives & Policy Frameworks

• Gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) is a vital tool in urban governance. India adopted a Gender Budget Statement in 2005-06, but only a few states have operationalized it:
  • Delhi: Introduced women-only buses and street lighting initiatives.
  • Tamil Nadu: Applied GRB across 64 departments in 2022–23.
  • Kerala: Embedded gender goals through the People’s Plan Campaign.
• Political Representation: The 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments mandated 33% reservation for women in local governance, with 17 states and a Union Territory increasing it to 50%.
• As a result, women now account for over 46% of local elected representatives.
• Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM): It emphasized inclusive planning, with gender mainstreaming was identified as a key strategy, with provisions for:
  • Gender-sensitive infrastructure development
  • Inclusion of women in City Development Plans (CDPs)
  • Capacity building for women’s participation in governance
• Smart Cities Mission and AMRUT 2.0: Selected cities have adopted gender audits, inclusive mobility plans, and safety-focused urban design.
• National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA): It has developed frameworks for mainstreaming women-led urban governance.
• State and City-Level Innovations:
  • Kudumbashree (Kerala): It is a globally recognized model of women-led urban development.
  • Jalasathi Model (Odisha): It engages women SHG members as frontline service providers in urban water supply.
  • Gender Budgeting in Kochi: Funds are allocated specifically for programs addressing women’s safety, mobility, and economic empowerment.

Global Best Practices in Gender Budgeting

• Philippines: Mandates 5% of local budgets for gender programmes.
• Rwanda: Integrates GRB into national planning with oversight bodies.
• Mexico: Ties GRB to outcomes through results-based budgeting.
• Uganda: Requires gender equity certificates for fund approvals.
• South Africa: Uses participatory planning to ground GRB in lived experience.

Policy Interventions and Reform Pathways

• Reforming Urban Bureaucracy: Inclusive cities require women not just as elected figures but as administrators, planners, engineers, and police officers. Achieving this demands:
  • Affirmative Action: Quotas and scholarships in technical education.
  • Recruitment Reforms: Gender-sensitive hiring in ULGs.
  • Retention Policies: Workplace support and promotion pathways.
• Building Cities with Women: As India races towards a $5 trillion economy, its cities must evolve as inclusive spaces, not just economic engines. It requires:
  • Mandatory gender audits in urban planning.
  • Institutionalizing GRB across all ULGs.
  • Participatory budgeting linked with impact evaluations.
  • Creating local gender equity councils, especially in small and transitional cities.
• Capacity Building: Offer gender-sensitization training, leadership development programs, and technical mentorship for women in urban planning and policy.
• Institutional Mechanisms: Create dedicated Gender Equity Cells in municipal offices to conduct impact assessments of major urban projects.

Source: TH