A/HRC/19/53 their health suffer due to impaired breathing and respiratory disease. 51 In the case of COPD, for example, one study in Xuanwei, China, where rates of lung cancer and COPD are strongly associated with household use of coal fires, researchers showed that simple measures, such as installing a chimney, dramatically reduced the incidence of COPD among women.52 48. While the design of housing can be gender-sensitive, most often it is not. Scholars interested in feminist architecture have argued that: ―Despite this relationship of women to the home, they have little control over the nature of their housing. Architects and planners are usually men and, in the case of local authority housing estates, not of the class of those who actually spend most of their time in the flats and houses they design. It is women who bear the brunt of high-rise flats, estates with no open play spaces, inadequate laundry facilities, noise, vandalism and bad access to shops and transport. Cramped kitchens, damp, thin walls, broken lifts, dark and dangerous stairways and the numerous other consequences of low cost building, make taking care of the home and rearing young children doubly difficult and time-consuming.‖53 49. On the positive side, the design of housing itself can certainly encourage greater equality vis-à-vis enjoyment and use of domestic space.54 An example of new ways of thinking about domestic space from a gender perspective can be seen through the development of housing projects which seek to promote non-hierarchical and more flexible uses of the home. For example, creating personal workspaces inside the home can support women who are more likely to engage in home-based income-generating activities. Another interesting development which can be found in certain policies relates to the design of kitchens, a traditionally female space which is often cramped and separated. The design of housing from a gender-sensitive perspective can better promote family integration, as well as a more equitable sharing of household responsibilities between women and men through openness and shared use of spaces. Accessibility 50. In order to ensure that housing is accessible to all groups of women, it is similarly important for housing law, policy and programmes to reflect the needs of women who may be especially disadvantaged and who encounter intersectional discrimination, including widows, elderly women, lesbians, homeless women, migrant women, women with disabilities, women who may be single mothers or single heads of households, women living with or otherwise affected by chronic illnesses such as HIV/AIDS and mental health disorders, women belonging to racial/ethnic/linguistic minorities, domestic workers, sex workers, illiterate women and women who have been displaced. 51. Women who face intersectional discrimination are more vulnerable to losing their homes, and have more difficulty accessing adequate housing in the first place. In the case of women affected by HIV/AIDS, for example, advocates have shown how ―One of the greatest obstacles HIV/AIDS infected women confront is their inability to secure property. Women‘s inability to possess and manage property may result in their impoverishment, 51 52 53 54 Ibid. Chapman, Robert S., He, Xingzhou, Blair, Aaron E., & Lan, Qing (2005). ―Improvement in household stoves and risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Xuanwei, China: retrospective cohort study‖ British Medical Journal 2005, 331, pp. 1050-2. Sophie Watson and Helen Austerberry, ―A Woman's Place: A Feminist Approach to Housing in Britain‖, Feminist Review (1981) 8, pp. 49-62. Special thanks to Graciela Dede for her assistance with this paragraph. 15