Urban Governance, Gender, and Markets

Both urban governance and urban markets, and the relation between the two have important gender dimensions. 

Urban Governance refers to the general manner in which a city is governed. It includes both the formal structures of urban government and administration and the practises of exercising management and power, including the role of groups in civil society in the governing relationship.

Gender refers to the cultural interpretation of differences between men and women. Gender and gender identity are socially constructed. Gender entails both men’s and women’s active roles in society and their ideas about maleness and femaleness.

Markets refer here to actual sites of transaction; specific places where buyers and sellers meet. It encompasses both spaces designated by city authorities as markets, and more informal and temporary sites of transaction appropriated by vendors.