It includes equal access to information, education, basic health care and job opportunities, for women as well as for men. It also includes providing child care, primary health care, including reproductive health services, facilities for the elderly, specific facilities for the disabled, and safe, affordable and regular infrastructure for everyone. It means taking into serious consideration the needs and the roles of women and men and empowering both to participate in decision-making and have a vote in the shaping of villages, towns and cities. Women all over the world have the double role of reproduction and production which often leads to an disproportionate burden due to a lack of adequate housing, and poor infrastructure, such as difficult access to water, household energy, long distances between home and work, as well as inadequate access to social infrastructure, such as child care, education, health care and reproductive health services, etc. Other problems are related to legal rights to tenure and access to credit.
Women also carry the primary responsibility for management of their homes and neighbourhoods.
Therefore, it is imperative that the special role of women be taken into account in all matters related to human settlements. Countries' futures, the near as well as the more remote, are based on their children and youth. In many countries children and youth constitute half of the population. Children and youth will inherit the challenges and the burdens to improve and turn human settlements towards sustainability. Special attention must be paid to vulnerable children, such as street children, and street girls in particular.