WOMEN AND HOME OWNERSHIP- A PARADIGM SHIFT IN HOUSING DELIVERY POLICIES.

By

FAOZIAH A. GAMU DEPARTMENT OF ESTATE MANAGEMENT

UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS.

Being a paper delivered at the 2nd National Workshop On“PRIVATE SECTOR DRIVEN HOUSING DELIVERY:

Issues, Constraints, Challenges andProspects”.

Organized byDEPARTMENT OF ESTATE MANAGEMENT

In collaboration withReal Estate Developers Association of Nigeria

(REDAN)

Venue: Main Auditorium, University of Lagos.

Date: 30th – 31st July, 2003.

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ABSTRACT

“Housing for all”!!! The popular slogan that characterised

manifestoes of most political campaigns is gradually fading

into the thin air. Nonetheless, the issues regarding

housing and its attendant problems still remained with us as

it were.

In this paper, the focus is shifted from having to

generalise issues to providing specific solutions to the

need to empower and facilitates women to actively partake

and benefit from various housing schemes as being done by

their male counterparts.

However, because the paper is designed to provide home

ownership accommodation succour to women, and since the

issue at hand is a developmental and economic one, it is no

gain saying that the most eligible amongst women should be

the widower, the divorced and the single-mothers, given that

these women have been saddled with the responsibilities of

their men. Female-headed households are also on the increase

for obvious reasons (FOS, 1999). The incidence of poverty

amongst this class is also high and growing steadily (Nubi,

2003). From an incidence of about 27% in 1980, to an all

time high of about 80% in 2000. This means their conditions

have worsened just as has been an increase in the number of

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such households. We all know what this trend will relate to

sociologically.

Thus, the need to canvas for this opportunity becomes more

amplified in the light of recent global developments where

women out of these natural and not so natural events were

somehow deprived of social and economic privileges.

Further, the population news confirmed that the ratio of

women to man is growing steadily disproportionately thus,

aggravating the scenario. (World Population, 2002).

In the light of the foregoing, if the poverty alleviation

programme of the Federal Government must succeed, then the

need therefore arises to weighing the social/economic

consequences of having to keep women away from accessing and

participating in house ownership schemes due to financial,

legal or structural constraints. This trend may portend

grave social consequences, as it will surely breed numerous

social vices that words may not be capable of describing.

One of the points noted is that women’s access to

opportunities that will enable them own their homes should

be enlarged and made less difficult. Thus, the subsistent

or lower income level of these women as a result of their

being in such circumstances will be optimally utilised

instead of being vulnerable to the exorbitant rental

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payments for their homes as demanded by landlords. The

savings will also go a long way in providing for and

nurturing her dependants without fear of intimidation or

oppression.

Further, paper takes a look at the history of housing

developments and its attendant provisions around the world,

with a view to borrowing a lesson that is adaptable to our

own socio-cultural milieu.

This paper also looks at the issue of professionalism and

women’s participation in the housing delivery process, and

the need to encourage more women to take active role in this

new drive such that the accompanying benefits could be

generalised.

Lastly, this paper takes a cursory look at the present

housing policies and thus, reviewed them with a view to

suggesting how to strengthen the new policy thrust, and

other implementation strategies that will engender ownership

of houses by women to rise phenomenally.

KEYWORDS: Women, Home-Ownership, Housing Development, Housing Policy.

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1.0 INTRODUCTION

The challenge of the twenty first century for Nigeria has

been that of poverty and sustainable development. This is

as a result of the realisation by the Government and many

stakeholders that indeed a very vibrant bane of economic

development is corruption. The question was therefore

asked, “Why are people so poor when we are in the midst of

plenty” (Anan, 2001). Poverty leads to corruption,

corruption in turn leads to poor economic development.

Government all over the world in developed and developing

nations as well, are now realizing that indeed poverty do

have a serious negative impact on economic development, (UN,

1984) hence their policies and programmes on issues of

poverty. Happily, professionals all over the world are also

helping in their localities and at international fora by

appreciating and suggesting means of combating the problem

of poverty.

A lot has since been done, in fact one can safely say, 60%

of all workshops in Nigeria in 2003 linked all topical

issues with poverty alleviation.

Even as we are now, the Commonwealth Association of

Surveying and Land Economy (CASLE) are organising a

conference for next April on “Alleviation of Poverty, the

role of Surveyors, Land Economists and related professions”.

A real threat however, as regards this laudable effort is

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the philosophy behind the use of the word “alleviation”;

this presupposed a mindset that is not thinking of the

expected situation of eradication. Why on earth do we want

to eradicate polio in Nigeria? And NOT Poverty? Can you

see the damage that can be unleashed with the use of the

wrong word? Using the word “alleviation” is a danger to

real change in development and that was why, we are still

very far away from solving the problem at hand.

Having given this preamble thus far, it is important to note

that women constitute (over 50%) of the world population of

6.2 Billion as at end of year 2002 (Pop Bureau, 2003). Here

in Nigeria, with a population of 126.6 million as at 2002,

women make up 61.8 Million (which is about 50%).

Majority of these women are however below the poverty

baseline compared to the men folk (Nubi, 2002).

By inference from the population data, one can safely

conclude that women make up more than half the population of

any community and the world at large. They are also

generally responsible for most everyday activities related

to the caring and maintenance of the household and raising

of the children. These are important tasks in all

countries, not least, developing ones like Nigeria; women

make important contributions to subsistence of the family

often through informal activities in and around the home.

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Over the years there has been increasing explicit

declaration and resolutions by United Nations on the

important role of women in the development of any society.

Besides production for the family’s consumption and

production for sale, these activities include resolving

social and community problems through informal networks.

Home or housing in a broad sense would mean both shelter and

the social/spatial surroundings, it is therefore crucial to

women as a center for most of their activities.

However, laws, regulations and traditions limit women’s

place for maneuver in relation to home-ownership. Even

where the laws give the women rights, local and traditional

practices may not work in their favour (Larsson, 2001).

Today most development aid programmes promote women’s

participation in the democratic development of society

through a policy of gender mainstreaming.

In fact, the United Nations Policy document – The Habitat

Agenda, which was produced in 1996 at the Habitat II

conference in Turkey, stated as part of the preamble “The

empowerment of women and their full and equal participation

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in political, social and eradication of poverty are

essential to achieving sustainable human settlement”.

Similarly Agenda 21, from the 1992 UN conference on

Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is an

example of a global document that stresses women’s

participation in the field of not only housing but also

physical planning.

2.0 METHODOLOGY

The paper uses data from studies on gender issues for

analysis and to highlight the problem on our hands.

Further, as one can observe the issue of women is not

included in the sub-theme of this workshop as awareness of

the relevance of such issue in housing is still very low

here in Nigeria, this is not the case in more developed

economy. More so, as it can aptly be argued that in this

workshop housing delivery is being examined from the private

sector perspective and as such the issue of provision for

women could be seen as possibly a social obligation, which a

private initiative could not accommodate. But this is not

correct, we are not saying build houses to give free to

women of different description and circumstance but to make

accessibility easier for them and hence ownership.

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The paper is to sensitise all stakeholders including

Government and the Nigerian society that the issue of Women

home-ownership is worth giving a thought and positive policy

action, if they are really serious about any sort of

development. As Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) of Islam had said

“When you want to check the pulse of a society, look at the

women”, what this means is that the status of the women in

the society are pointers to how developed that society is.

Therefore if many are becoming homeless by the day, what

sort of society can we call such? We can not afford to play

politics with the issue of women and their need for home-

ownership.

Unfortunately, there are no formidable data on women and

home-ownership that can be easily accessed and used for this

analysis, the writer has started working on information

gathering for future analysis on this research.

3.0 FOCUS ON WOMEN

One may ask and rightly so, Why Women and home-ownership?

What is the issue in this? And the answer is simply, “there

is a difference between men and women”. Therefore,

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generalising their needs will not take care of the

fundamental problems facing each one in realising their

goals.

Women, have been described as the weaker or fairer sex, this

in itself is an indication that people and nations accepts

the fact that women are different essentially from men, of

course this does not mean weakness of mind or spirit. The

term GENDER, in modern literatures has been used to

highlights the difference between men and women, which are

created by social and cultural norms from those that are

essentially biological.

Gradually, today new mechanisms are being put in place to

integrate women into the development process, hence the

Women Ministry and other economic vehicles to empower the

women.

While many people may in principle support equal

opportunities and other aspects of equality between men and

women, they may not understand the implication of GENDER in

a specific subject field, but as today’s professionals we

must know this.

Gender issues in housing include house design, women’s

access to housing (both in the legal and financial sense)

and women’s participation in housing projects in both

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decision-making and construction. It therefore warms the

heart that a woman now heads the Federal Ministry of Housing

in Nigeria today. This is a step in the right direction,

sentiments however, must not be used in selection rather,

and relevant experience and professionalism should be the

parameter for selection.

The concept ‘gender’ should be understood as a tool to

understand the world of women and men. The use of the term

implies analysing existing relationships between men and

women, in order to give attention to the specific

experiences, opportunities and threats of women. Earlier

programmes to promote women’s participation in development

were often referred to as ‘Women programmes’. They looked

at women in isolation not in relation to a society

consisting of both men and women. (Gwagwa, 1995; Kalabamu,

1998; Boserup, 1989). Consequently, suggestions for changes

did not include the world of men. Gender perspective means

looking at the world from another angle. It could actually

mean both men and women, but gender studies may very well

focus on women. Another common term in gender discussions

is mainstreaming, which stresses the importance of taking

measures to integrate gender awareness in all types of

projects and activities. Although, gender perspective

identifies the general problems faced by women due to the

structures in society, women are not viewed as passive.

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Instead women are seen, not as victims, but as subjects who

actively shape their everyday lives, thereby becoming a

driving force in development. This way of perceiving women

has important implications for planning and development

process.

In actual fact, the United Nation’s Population Information

Network (POPIN) confirmed that there is a correlation

between the status of women and the pace of development. It

also went further to say that studies carried out by them

has shown that economic growth and improvement in the

quality of life has been fastest in those areas where women

enjoy higher status, and slowest where they face the

greatest disadvantages, which lend credence to what the Holy

Prophet Muhammad had said 1425 years ago earlier quoted .

There can be no sustainable development without the

development of women. The report also stated that there is a

growing conviction amongst experts that the betterment of

Women’s situation is vital for the achievement of other

social and economic goals. (UN Report, 2003).

4.0 WOMEN & HOMELESSNESS

A general rule of thumb worldwide is that you can afford to

buy a home costing up to 2.5 times your gross annual income

(Fannie Mae, 2000). But unfortunately, this is not to be,

especially in Nigeria due to lack of formidable vehicle for

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credit facilities and other institutional bottlenecks (Nubi,

2003). And this problem is more accentuated for women.

This is because Women have lower incomes due to lower pay

rates and work patterns that include more part-time work and

interruptions to care for children and family members, and

part time workers are not taken as credit worthy by any

lending institution (Smith, 1990). Women are also less

likely than men to accrue and control wealth.

In addition widowed, divorced, single parents, separated and

domestic violence survivors often carry with them the poor

credit histories of their former spouses if they were in

that situation, until they make changes by taking on

opportunities and assistance provided by their society.

Many have not had the opportunity to establish credit in

their own names, making them less likely to qualify for

their own mortgages, since their income is low compared to

their male counterparts.

The homelessness crisis facing women is also a poverty

crisis and cannot be understood merely in relation to

scarcity of appropriate housing. Because women’s housing

crises do not commonly manifest in street homelessness, an

inclusive analysis of homelessness cannot adopt as its

definition of homelessness “Sleeping rough on the streets as

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some analyst have defined it (Callaghan, 2001). Some may not

be living on the streets but homeless anyway.

However, the fact that an increasing number of women are now

living on the street is certainly an important indicator of

a growing problem, but it would be inappropriate to analyse

the nature of the problem of women’s homeless in terms of

street homelessness alone. Similarly, paying a high

percentage of her income toward rent is frequently

associated with hardship and may often force women to live

without adequate food and other necessities in order to pay

rent.

On the other hand, rent to income ratios or generalised

affordability criteria have often been associated with the

assumption that those who must pay high proportions of

income toward rent or mortgage costs are more likely to

default and face eviction. Since women are more likely to

be caring for children and to be paying high percentages of

income towards rents, such an assumption will have obvious

discriminatory implications for women.

5.0 NATIONAL HOUSING POLICY REVIEW

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Housing Policy of any organised society is the articulation

of the goals and objectives of that society regarding

provision of housing for its populace (Iyagba and Asunmo,

1997). Beginning from the sixties, policies of the Federal

Government regarding housing could be said to be sincere,

and looking at each policy, clause for clause, one has come

to the conclusion, that the people handling the portfolio at

each time indeed meant well. However, it is one thing to

mean well and another to act well and the best position is

not to be seen as meaning well but actually doing well.

This is 2003, a period of over forty years from 1960! and

yet the problem of housing is progressively getting worse.

You are either paying through your nose or you are going

through a hellish process of purchasing land from state

government and the original owners of land at the same

time, or through a cumbersome process of documentation and

transfer of ownership which aids insecurity of tenure.

Though again, one appreciates the fact that various

government tries in their little ways to address these

foregoing issues.

Presently, the report of the Presidential Committee on

Housing has addressed extensively the problem at hand and

has given suggestions to the Government. The Government has

since brought out a white paper on the said report

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accepting, rejecting or accepting with changes the

observations in the submitted report. (FRN Report, 2002).

The private sector will hopefully be aided by the number of

policies on finance and other institutional framework that

will ensure affordable housing for various categories of

income earners. But of particular note, is the fact that

the category that needed ownership most are the low and

medium income earners, otherwise we will continue to go back

to where we started from as we had continually done in the

past in Nigeria.

As expectedly no distinction is made for women and their

special needs, thus making a false assumption that all homes

are headed by a male. Again, one would want to stress here

that policies must include infrastructures for women to be

able to access home-ownership, as there are many who head

their various homes and with children. For as long as our

psyche leaves this major component out of the race for home-

ownership, then there will continue to be lots of women and

children under bridges and in despicable abodes.

It is no wonder therefore, that only one woman was included

in the Presidential Committee on Housing and Urban

Development that did the current report on the National

Housing Policy, which has Fifteen (15) members and none at

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all in the Draft White Paper Committee that studied and

analysed the report before forwarding to the Federal

Executive Council.

Ironically, however, the committee’ the poor vulnerable

group such as women and children and the aged needed to be

aided in urban services as their well-being and empowerment

leads to development’. I wonder how this would be achieved

if they don’t have a home where care and simple nurturing

and tutoring can be fostered.

A number of 1,000 units of housing are to be provided

annually with exception of some four cities which will have

higher units in this new policy and it is expected that all

Nigerians are to be benefited.

As long as we can say, a lot of work has gone into this

report, but a lot of issues still need finer details,

suggestions and comments should be thrown open to the

general public and the academia for criticism and the way

forward.

6.0 PRIVATE INITIATIVE – Lessons from other Nations

All over the world, provision of housing is a very important

one today and a lot of creativity and foresightedness may be

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required to stay above the challenges that keep coming up as

society changes and population increases.

To this end, Government must be up and doing and facilitate

the interest of all stakeholders, because investors would

always invest in housing because of their own gain, so they

needed to be encouraged by Government as much as possible.

Generally worldwide, one is not expected to pay more than

30% of his monthly income on rent or mortgage repayment,

this does not apply to the situation on ground in most

cities of the developing nations. With Credit Institutions

that are not well structured in the system and a high

double-digit inflation and interest rates, it will be highly

impossible to achieve any positive change in home-ownership

for the people talk less of Women.

Let us therefore briefly look at what is happening from

other societies.

6.1 SOUTHERN AFRICA

This covers countries like Botswana, South Africa, Namibia,

Zambia etc. The same problems assail women when it comes to

home-ownership. They have difficulties created by old

ideologies and traditions, where in most cases women could

not own their own homes. For instance, in case of death of

the spouse, the family of the man may take over the property

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and if the woman must stay in the house she can, but the

house still essentially belong to the family of the late

husband. Even where there is divorce or separation she

would be ejected, this situation led to many litigations.

In April, 1993 an airplane carrying the Zambia National

Football team crashed and all 27 of them died. What the

widows had to face became a national issue as the relatives

quickly took the initiatives and took control of all that

the footballers had including deposits in the bank and many

of the widows were forced to leave with their children,

despite the 1989 Inheritance Law which gives the woman some

rights, including the right to remain in their matrimonial

home, even if someone else inherits the house. (Larsson and

Schltyter, 1993). The Provincial Government in South Africa

today is required to allocate at least 10% of their housing

funds to projects developed by Women Contractors or

Developers. (Mthembi -Mahanyele, 2001).

6.2 CANADIAN EXPERIENCE

The Federal housing programmes in Canada include:

(a) Those programs designed to provide the creation of

affordable rental housing. This encompasses both;

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(i) Federally operated social housing programs.

(ii) Programs funded through cost-sharing agreements

with Provinces (States)

(iii) The provision of rent supplements to tenants

in private rental units and

(iv) Direct funding for the development of new

rental housing units.

(b) The second category of Federal activity is in the

area of home-ownership. Canada Mortgage and Housing

Corporation (CMHC) plays important role in providing

mortgage insurance and regulating access to

mortgages for home-ownership and also providing

financial assistance to lower income home-owners for

repairs and upkeep of existing homes.

(c) The third category of activity is in the area of

“Homelessness Initiatives” providing funding for

emergency shelters and facilitating research and

community action to address homelessness.

By 1970’s, the Federal Government was a key player in their

housing system through major Public Housing initiative and

by 1983 was subsidizing 645,000 rental units across Canada

in a wide variety of public housing, non-profit, co-

operative and rent supplement units. Which means it was not

all that was free or done as social or welfare provision.

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The population of Canada is 31.5 Million as at April, 2003

compared to Nigeria’s 133.5 Million. Of course, we cannot

compare the two countries due to their sizes, yet we can

learn and adapt some policies to our own peculiar need.

The Canadian Government also withdrew funding of rental

housing to a large extent in recent times but they still

subsidize to a large extensively. However, recent studies

are showing that women were worst hit when subsidy was

reduced, since majority of low income earners are women and

renters and this has also led to a lot of discriminatory

barriers in the private market in terms of marketing and

allocation against some women, withdrawal of the subsidy led

to what a Human Rights Board of Inquiry in Ontario described

as:

“The kind of segregation that results from income-based

discrimination led to differentiation in the rental market

into, locations of prime rental housing that is occupied

primarily by moderate income white residents and poor

housing that is occupied by low-income and mostly black

residents. Very often these two locations are different not

so much in terms of the actual rent levels but rather in the

quality of housing. In effect, low income black residents

end up paying comparably higher rents for poor quality

housing and then pay a serious social price for the negative

images created by the locations in which they are forced to

live”.

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The gap is therefore widened between the rich and the poor.

Happily, since total withdrawal in 1993 and the resultant

problems, the Federal Government has since reintroduced

financial assistance initiatives in December 2001,

especially funding new supply of housing to make housing

affordable to those who indeed need them. They also devolve

their power to the Provinces who in turn has downloaded to

the Municipalities (Callaghan, 2001).

A recent Cambridge University study of Canadian Housing

Policy concluded that “the actual expenditure costs of

private renting are more expensive than owner-occupation, so

that there is quite a significant advantage of owner-

occupation”.

Just like most Nigerian Professionals in the Real Estate

Industry also feel that if you could afford to pay so high a

rent, then it is better having your own home rather than

renting. But inaccessibility of credit for home-ownership

in the first place is the real issue that ought to be

addressed.

7.0 ROLES OF ADVOCACY GROUPS

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Groups on home-ownership initiatives like Housing Co-

operatives that will focus on women and break the cycle of

homelessness are on the increase in America. Fostering the

economic and social independence of the homeless and low

income women and their families. Of course, they are non-

profit organisations that are in the forefront of

development of housing opportunities and services to low

income and homeless women, widowed, divorced, single parent

etc.

These NGOs can be encouraged to be formed by our Government

so that Women Professionals in the Construction Industry and

other professionals or non-professionals (grassroots women)

can come together to help themselves to become owner-

occupiers. It should also involve women politicians. It is

especially important for women professionals and politicians

to meet the grassroots women on their own terms to listen to

their experiences and be prepared to learn from them

(Hirdman, 1991; Larsson, 1989). This will engender training

and workshops for professional women only, which will

support networking amongst them. Such measures are

important means of empowerment that can strengthen their

confidence when acting in a male dominated forum. Housing,

being a male-dominated field requires more input by women

professionals and women politicians. Though much effort has

been made to encourage women to apply for jobs, participate

in committees and in political elections etc., but despite

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such efforts, changes are very slow both in terms of number

of women participating and in the inclusion of gender

issues. It is therefore important that the awareness of

gender issues is made the responsibility of both men and

women.

8.0 WOMEN PROFESSIONALISM IN THE BUILDING INDUSTRYIt has been rightly observed that women are indeed few in

the building industry which is seen as male-dominated one,

as indeed in most economic industries. This however should

not be seen as a problem. What motivation and encouragement

to be given to the few in the profession is the real issue

so that gender awareness could be incorporated into the

decision making process, housing delivery programmes and

policy thrusts of Governments.

We are created differently; therefore saying that women will

do what men will do is not the idea, but giving women

opportunities in the professions so as to be able to

articulate ideas that will engender ease of accessibility to

and ownership of homes of their own either as owner-

occupiers or renters. There are three points of entry to

apply a gender perspective to housing these are:

Women’s access to housing

Women’s participation in policy and decision making

25

Women’s needs and priorities in the design of

dwellings.

Opportunities to gain better skills and experience in the

housing delivery process should be focused, to this end,

Women Developers, Professionals, Contractors and other

categories involved in the field of housing should be

empowered, while organisations can be encouraged to provide

assistance to them.

9.0 RECOMMENDATIONS

1. The right to adequate housing should not only be

recognized (as it is now) by the

Government, she must lay down Institutional structures

that will ensure that housing gets to people who need

them. It is also the obligation of the Government to

ensure that women, men and children have adequate

shelter and short/ long term credits to provide for

their own housing needs.

2. All policies that will lead to discriminations against

women must be removed.

3. There is a real need for more research which

investigates and documents Women’s

Housing and living conditions and this must be funded by

Government at all levels.

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4. Without adequate, accessible credit facilities,

especially to low income earners

which include majorly women, or subsidised rental

housing, then home-ownership will continue to be dreams

for so many people especially women.

5. Low income earners should be protected from interest

rate fluctuations which must

be as low as possible.

6. There should be security of tenure, once women are able

to access home-ownership

because many a times household economic security often

rests on women’s shoulders.

10.0 CONCLUSION

Despite the need for security of tenure, women’s social and

economic disadvantage and inequality and the frequent

exclusion of women from vital aspects of the housing process

has left women in Nigeria and indeed across the world

lacking security of tenure. In fact in some parts of the

world being a woman guarantees insecure tenure due to

traditional perceptions and ideologies. The promotion and

protection of women’s right to housing is essential to

women’s well-being and will only become increasingly

important now.

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As the primary users of housing, women often have the most

at stake when possible eviction looms, and women also have

very peculiar housing requirements. Beyond basic shelter

needs, for many women housing is a place of employment and

social interaction and a place to nurture her offsprings and

significant others.

With the obvious importance and significance of housing

rights including the UN resolutions on women’s equal

ownership of, access to and control over land and the equal

rights to own property and to adequate housing a lot is

still to be done. Women still face a lot of financial and

legal constraints, this can occur in terms of policy

development, control over household resources, right of

inheritance and ownership, community interaction or even

construction of housing.

The challenges facing women on these issues vary depending

on the region or country. While recognizing the

multiplicity of issues confronting women, the important way

forward is for all, both men and women to recognize these

issues as problems so that it can be focused and addressed.

When women are helped to increase accessibility to housingas renters or owners, we are

actually helping ourselves (us all).

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Indeed, when you want to know how developed a Nation ischeck out the situation of the womenfolk!

29

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