Currently 2/3 of the almost 30,000 members of the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia (SDFN) are women. The activities of the Federation have a visible impact on women empowerment in Namibia since the processes of forming saving groups, engaging in community-led negotiations with authorities and upscaling informal settlement upgrading, have been mainly driven by women. These community-led activities by the Shack Dwellers have given many women in informal settlements the opportunity to break away from top-down and male dominated leadership. The Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia has proven in its more than 20 years of existence that female leadership not only gets things done in a sustainable and participatory way; female leadership within the Federation also stands for justice and equality for all - regardless of income, gender or other personal characteristics.