Women, men, girls and boys are differentially affected by the conditions of urbanization. For instance, women are ???invariably disadvantaged compared to men in cities in terms of equal access to employment and shelter, health and education, transport, asset ownership, experiences of urban violence and ability to exercise their rights. These disadvantages are especially marked for poor urban women???1 These gendered dimensions of cities require continual examination if inequalities are to be understood and addressed for equitable and sustainable development. The Research unit can potentially help enhance understanding of this human-urban environment interface from gender perspectives.

The Guide represents a milestone in the efforts of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme to monitor the Millennium Development Goals adopted by the UN members states in the year 2000. UN-HABITAT has been assigned the responsibility to assist governments in monitoring and eventually attaining the global “Cities without Slums” Target of improving the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers. This guide offers not only the definition related to urban poverty and slums but also a hierarchy of indicators at the operational level and specific ways to measure them.