There is arguably a two tiered approach to this.
The scope and objectives of development assistance have shifted amid growing recognition of the importance of institutional sustainability as a pillar of development, and as such increasingly towards technical support for the various institutional, political and civil society factors that broadly constitute ‘good governance’. This has offered an opportunity to capacity build and the provision of technical support that is conducive to greater gender equality generally. What is a vital companion of this process is an understanding amongst citizens that gender equality benefits all at the city level – as functioning local politics will reflect the needs and demands of the public body. Facilitating the forging of shared public values, challenging opinions and defining norms is recognised to be significantly contingent on a city’s built form. Safe and accessible public spaces including streets are the civic sites where values are formed and behaviours normalised. The process of socialisation towards gender awareness is facilitated by well planned and managed city spaces, which are also conducive by design to the participation of women in debate, protest and activism.

We would like to continue with the three questions we asked yesterday:

– Do you have examples of successful gender-transformative urban governance initiatives?
– How can we build a bridge between data collection and urban governance that allows for effective implementation toward transformative change?
– How will the paradigm shift from gender mainstreaming to transformation play out in urban governance? What mechanisms will have to be created? What partnerships will have to be made?

Remember to join us today at 3pm CEST for a final webinar with UN Habitat and Women in Cities International. Representatives from these two organisations will add to the already in-depth conversation and share any remaining reflections on the topic.

Join us on this page to watch the webinar and ask your questions on the online discussion or through twitter @Wikigender #MakingCitiesInclusive.

Benefit of gender diversity for urban governance is constraint by discriminatory social norms and laws: gender disparities in participation in and benefit from urban governance are significantly shaped by societal expectation on gender roles.

How to overcome these constraints?

“The Association Basque of Municipalities EUDEL, has created a school for women local elected politicians, “the Virginia Woolf Basqueskola” together with the Basque Institute for Women – Emakunde and the Directorate for Victims of Gender Violence of the Basque Government. The school takes its name from the famous English writer, which was one of the promoters of modern feminism though, her book “A room of One’s Own” from 1929.

The main objective of the school is to offer a place for women politicians to share experiences and to create a common network with other European local elected women. By providing coaching, practical tools and strategies the school aims to empower women in their political career.

The school is founded on studies showing that women and men engaged in politics neither have the same point of departure, nor the same way of living or approach to politics. Women shares common experiences that can benefit the society as a whole, therefore the ultimate goal for every society should be to achieve greater inclusion of women in mixed areas of politics and public accountability.

By bringing up strategies to meet and to compensate these different obstacles, the Virginia Woolf school will function as a tool enabling both women and men politicians to get an equal weight in public policy. The school is open for women politicians from both small and larger towns, with or without previous knowledge or experience having worked with gender equality issues/policies. It is anchored in a European context of existing networks of elected women and also open women engaged in civil platforms.

“Virgina Woolf Basqueskola” offers workshops, trainings and seminars for elected women to acquire knowledge and develop skills to manage the work in both large and small municipalities and also to stay informed on current debates and arguments constituting the basis for equality policies. It also offers coaching and provides practical tools for implementation of policies favouring gender equality at local level.”

They recently published a guide for newly elected women representatives that is available in English (http://www.eudel.eus/destacados/basqueskola/files/2016/01/guia-mujeres-electas_EN.pdf), Spanish (http://www.eudel.eus/es/archivos/libro/Manual_mujeres_electas.pdf) and Basque (http://www.eudel.eus/eu/archivos/libro/Emakume_hautetsientzako_eskuliburua.pdf)

Moving along, today we would like to ask you about social norms, and gender-transformative approaches. Below are a serie of questions to guide the reflexion:

-How can we raise awareness on gender equality and work on shifting social norms at the city level?
-Do you have examples of successful gender-transformative urban governance initiatives?
-How will the paradigm shift from gender mainstreaming to transformation play out in urban governance? What mechanisms will have to be created? What partnerships will have to be made?

We look forward to reading your contributions !