On cold winter mornings, Shamoon wakes up early to boil milk for her young infant and make breakfast for her family of five, before leaving for work. She walks for more than 16 kilometres every day from her home to her workplace and back. It’s become difficult for women like her — a member of the Hindu labour community — to survive amid rapid urban development in Karachi.

While the coastal city continues to see the construction of new roads and new schemes of transport, a significant number of the city’s population can’t access these so-called convenient modes of travel.

“There was never a time when roads were equally accessible for every individual in Karachi,” says Shamoon. “My parents and their parents walked throughout the city, whether for longer or shorter distances. We could rarely manage to afford even the cheapest means of public transport. A lot of people from my community, as well as others, still walk in order to commute daily.”

When asked about her daily encounters while walking on roads, considering the chaotic and unpredictable nature of the city, Shamoon says, “It is definitely not as comfortable and safe as it is for people who have cars or can, at least, travel by some mode of public transport.

“Moreover, the situation of the roads in terms of infrastructure is not good at all. There are broken and coarse pavements, with sewage water running over without any proper lane or path designated for pedestrians.”

The gentrification of the city impacts women from the labour class the most, further ostracising them in a society that doesn’t care for pedestrians or the poor

Mobility and Access

Gentrification and urbanisation in Karachi collectively impacts the labour and working class. However, there are more detrimental consequences suffered by women belonging to these groups. An unfavourable and tiresome civic design not only adds to mobility and access problems, but is also deeply intertwined with social politics, which marginalises women further.

Patriarchy plays a prominent role in determining the social factors women are subjected to. For example, while all pedestrians are impacted by poorly designed roads, women walking on the streets are more likely to face harassment and other dangers.

Afia Salam, an environmentalist and climate journalist, says, “Gentrification is another name for elite capture that impacts the lower socio-economic classes. It is the beautification of the city, which is done at the cost of the poor, who are removed from their settlements as they are considered eyesores.”

There have been several events that have resulted in the removal of the poor population in Karachi due to gentrification. One instance is the displacement following the anti-encroachment drive Gujjar Nullah residents were subjected to after the 2020 urban flooding. Poor labour class women bore the most severe brunt.

“As a result of the displacement, women from the labour class are thrown to the outskirts of the city, to an area usually not close to their places of work,” says Salam. “It becomes more costly to commute, so they are made to cut down some of their essential needs in order to make that trek to their workplaces. The men may take bikes or buses but, for women, it is not easy to access public transport and they also don’t have any vehicle of their own.”

The distance of their commute consequently increases and impacts them financially. Due to being shifted to the outskirts of the city, their social and civic interactions also change drastically.

“The places where they were already living were familiar to them,” adds Salam. “They used to move within that circle, go to work, and travel together with other women. When the shifting happens, some go to one area while some to another. As a result, these women’s social network that they share with each other breaks, compromising their physical safety by making them more vulnerable to harassment and marginalisation by people who are unknown to them.”

In the absence of a city-wide transport system, women labourers have to leave home earlier and return later due to their longer commutes now.

Moreover, the current plan of Karachi seems to serve only motorcycles and cars. There is an evident lack of attention towards the provision of convenient means of road access to pedestrians. In addition to hardly any smooth pavements for pedestrians, there are also not enough pedestrian bridges, and the ones present are not intersectional — especially for women and people with disabilities.

Domestic Dilemmas

“I still remember the time when this city was not as hot as it is now,” says Kausar, a labourer and housewife who lives near Civil Lines in Clifton. “People could still feel the cool breeze coming along with the sea tides. Now it is suffocating for my family during extreme summers. Wherever I go, I see a multi-storey building or a project in construction throughout Clifton and DHA.”

She adds how one cannot live in their homes amid the extreme heat of the city’s summer, saying, “People from my background don’t have airconditioners. We use electrical fans and those also don’t work as a result of long hours of load shedding.”

The construction of new buildings and plazas, along with the cutting of trees, has left Karachi without any green cover. In the absence of green space, the city’s natural weather is altered. Over the past 60 years, the temperature of Karachi has risen, both during daytime and nighttime, according to the Karachi Urban Lab (KUL), which studies and collects data on urban planning, affordable housing, development and climate change.

Zimal Amir, a climate justice activist, says, “Environmental aftermath as a result of gentrification affects poor classes as a whole, but the larger burden is, of course, suffered by women from these class backgrounds.

“One of the major issues is the unequal distribution of utilities and resources in domestic settings. Women are largely deprived of fans and water during the summers. They cook and clean without any relief during the summer heat. Men are prioritised when it comes to using these utilities.”

Class Disparity

Gentrification splits the city into two. It dictates a class divide on the basis of these markers, where middle and lower classes can’t move freely to the more developed localities reserved for the privileged few. The building of these urbanised spots often seems to be done with the intention of demolishing katchi abadis.

Salam calls this a pattern of upper class expropriation, saying, “Sixty percent of Karachi is composed of irregular settlements. These settlements are completely different from the slums. So, when some city planners want to make the city look good or visually appealing, they try to hide what, in their opinion, is ugly. Hence, slum dwellers and their settlements are targeted.”

When the women belonging to this lower class are forced to the periphery of the city, they are also deprived of access to education and healthcare facilities. Their lives become far more difficult as they become more invisible. This also takes a toll on their mental and emotional health, leading to conflicts within households.

Moreover, gentrification results in an increase in the cost of utilities and services and furthers the divide between the rich and poor. Following a collective price hike, the specific health and utilitarian needs of labour class women are compromised.

Kausar shares how this impacted her. “My fourth pregnancy was a horrible phase of my life,” she says. “The health centres and pharmacies were expensive in Clifton, and they still are. People from our economic strata can’t afford it, despite the fact that we have been living in the same area alongside the rich for years.

“I had to travel to Lyari to purchase medicines. Moreover, the delivery of my child came with severe pain and trauma. It might have been different, if I had access to healthcare facilities where I live.”

The writer is a journalist, and a gender rights and climate justice activist based in Karachi

Published in Dawn, EOS, January 14th, 2024