A/HRC/19/53 benefit on an equal basis from these community resources, such that they are adequate, available and fully accessible to women and girls. 44. In this respect, researchers have found that ―site planning and location, service arrangements, and the design of community facilities can be critical in easing the burden of women's double day. For example, site layouts can be planned to cluster several houses around a communal area. In [El Salvador], this layout has given rise to informal, collective arrangements for child care which would have been difficult to develop otherwise.‖47 On access to employment and livelihoods, researchers have also highlighted that housing location is particularly important for women‘s employment: as they earn less, the cost and time of long commutes discourages formal employment, and access to markets is vital for typical informal occupations.48 Affordability 45. In order for housing to be adequate, it must be affordable. The definition of what is affordable, however, is not gender-neutral and cannot be thought of as being the same for women and men. Throughout the world, the reality is that women on average earn less than men, accumulate less pension/superannuation support over a lifetime, and have less access to financial resources in general. In a world where housing is often accessed through markets and capital, what may be affordable for the average man may not be affordable for the average woman. In Europe, for example, Eurostat found a persisting gender pay gap of 17.5 per cent on average in 27 European Union Member States.49 46. As such, when seeking to define affordability, it is important to take into account the gender disparity in income and access to financial resources, and to prioritize the allocation of social or public housing to those who are unable to meet the cost of housing, often women. Within the context of increased privatization of social services, it is also vital that the cost of housing itself be defined to include costs associated with realizing the right to adequate housing, including vis-à-vis rights to water and sanitation, energy supply, etc. Within the framework of housing law, policy and programming, women‘s access to the financial resources needed to obtain adequate housing – including loans, credits, and/or vouchers, etc. – ought to be reflected. Habitability 47. For women, habitability of housing has been linked to protection against violence within the home. Therefore, the notion of habitability for women must itself be interpreted in a gender-sensitive way, ensuring that housing is safe for women. The notion of habitability must also be sensitive to women‘s disproportionate caregiving roles. These roles must be considered in the design of housing law, policy and programming. For example, in many parts of the world, it is women who cook and prepare meals. When cooking over open fires or traditional stoves fuelled by wood, animal dung or charcoal, it has been shown that women breathe in a mix of toxic pollutants and are particularly vulnerable to developing Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). 50 For women, this indoor smoke is responsible for half a million deaths each year, and millions more have 47 48 49 50 14 Margaret A. Lycette and Cecilia Jaramillo, ―Low-Income Housing: A Woman‘s Perspective‖, International Center for Research on Women (April 1984), p. 18. Ibid. European Commission, ―Gender Equality: the Gender Pay Gap: The Situation in the EU‖, World Health Organization, Fact sheet: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), No. 315(May 2008).