Local governments: key promoters of gender equality Local governments are key promoters of gender equality and can make a difference to the lives, and the life chances, of women. Increasing the number of women in local government, and keeping the needs of women in mind when developing policies and services, is essential to achieving the goals of sustainable development. It is also a question of justice and recognising gender equality as a human right.
United Cities and Local Governments plays a leading role in championing the role of women in local government worldwide. It is committed to keeping gender equality high on the agenda of local governments and to ensuring greater participation of women in local decision-making processes.
As part of the Global Programme, United Cities and Local Governments has developed an information library containing papers, reports, articles and case studies on women in local government, as well as conducting a worldwide survey to develop adatabase on the percentages of women elected representatives across the globe. UCLG also produces a newsletter on women in local decision-making and briefings on key events.
Supporting networks of elected women The UCLG Committee on Gender Equality, chaired by Janine Haddad, Vice-President of the Regional Council of Ile-de-France, advises UCLG's statutory bodies on the development of gender-related policies, position statements and programmes, and monitors progress on the implementation of the Worldwide Declaration on Women in Local Government. The Committee ensures that gender concerns and perspective are included in all the aspects of UCLG work and acts as a forum for the international exchange of information and experiences related to gender and the promotion of women in decision-making, particularly between elected representatives.
Bringing the voice of women mayors and councillors to the United Nations In February 2005, a UCLG Local Government Delegation of over 50 women mayors and local councillors participated in the ten-year global review of the United Nations Beijing Platform for Action, known as Beijing +10, in New York. A written UCLG Local Government Statement, based on inputs from members, was submitted to governments and Janine Haddad, Vice-President of the Ile-de-France Region and Chair of the UCLG Committee on Gender Eqaulity, delivered a Statement, saying:
“Success in achieving the MDGs not only benefits from the increased participation of women in local politics; it depends on it. Women mayors and councillors are leading the way to 2015 in our communities, our cities, our countries, our world.”
UCLG database on women in local decision-making This ground-breaking database provides an overview of the percentages of women elected representatives at global, regional and national levels and these efforts were recognised by the January 2005 Report of the United Nations Millennium Project Task Group on Gender Equality:
“Recently, United Cities and Local Governments, an organization supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, has begun to collect data on the proportions of female local elected representatives, councillors, and mayors in 54 countries…As this data collection effort is scaled up, the task force recommends that countries and the international system use the information to complement the data on women’s parliamentary representation.”
Local-to-local: elected and grassroots women working together UCLG has a long-standing partnership with the Huairou Commission, the worldwide network of grassroots women. UCLG and the Huairou Commission are working together on a joint programme proposal: “Engendering Local Governance: Women Leading Global Change”. This joint initiative focuses on local-to-local partnerships between grassroots and elected women to increasethe role of women in local decision-making, and advocacy before international institutions to promote women in local decision-making.
Gender Equality Committee
