Paper short abstract:

The paper explores gender, health and environment from a gendered right to the city perspective in the secondary city of Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.

Paper long abstract:

This paper explores the gendered nature of urbanization in post-apartheid South Africa, and how it relates to questions of citizenship, place and concepts of the right to the city. Based on primary research in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu Natal, the paper discusses how in post-1994 South Africa, poor black households in urban areas are predominantly female-headed, and located in geographical spaces that remain strongly marked by race- and class-based patterns of apartheid era urban geography. In addition, female heads and their households are differentially reliant on different forms of state assistance, including subsidized housing. Is this gendered relationship with the state progressive and empowering for women, or, rather, does this type of citizenship limit women's opportunity for justice and equality? What are the implications for a gendered understanding of processes of urbanization? Finally, how can a right to the city framing illuminate this discussion of gender, citizenship and place in urban South Africa?