Women Mayors’ Summit – Session on “Women’s touch in cities”

Istanbul 28 March 2015

Speech by Barbara TOCE (Italy, SOC), Vice-President of the Congress

Women’s political participation at the local level and its implications for the urban environment

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Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure for me to participate in this conference and particularly in this round table on “Women’s touch in the city” in my role of Mayor of Pedaso and as Vice-President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.

I am also pleased to be in the beautiful city of Istanbul which has become part of our vocabulary when we talk about women since Istanbul has hosted the opening to signature in 2011 of the ground-breaking Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, now known as the Istanbul Convention.

Allow me to present myself shortly. I have been involved in the political life of my city Pedaso which is a municipality in the Province of Fermo in the region Marche in Italy. I have been elected from the Democratic Party. I have held the position of Deputy Mayor between 2002 and 2012 and since 2012 I am the Mayor.   I am also a member of the Italian delegation to the Congress of the Council of Europe where I was elected Vice-Presented last year.

Today, in this round-table on the subject of “Women’s Touch in Cities” I would like to focus on about women’s political participation at the local level and what implications this has for the urban environment.

I am convinced that women bring their own angle of vision to the situations, problems and challenges facing us, offering often a different opinion from their own unique experience. Politics cannot simply be a clash of individual ambitions, but must focus on responding to the citizens’ demands. Women contribute a different outlook on these issues, addressing them in a more pragmatic way, not in an overly politicised way of “politicans”. Women become more easily than men active advocates of a cause, and are much less inclined to play “political games”. In fact, women change the way politics are done, and we need this change.

Women’s participation in decision-making bodies is very important as these bodies create a framework for democratic action through laws and regulations. The grassroots level especially offers better chances for women to become members of municipal or regional councils, mayors or presidents of regions. This is also a level where women can become directly involved in a day-to-day administration of communities.  It is therefore vital that women become more and more involved in local government.

Political participation of women: some facts and figures

In the 21st century, in both the developed and the emerging countries, it is in cities that more than 50 % of the population live. There is great potential in cities for participation and action by women if they can sufficiently participate in the political decisions that shape urban development. I strongly believe that women’s role in the developing of neighbourhoods and cities is crucial, particularly for creating an urban environment based on social cohesion.  And cohesion and acceptance of diversity is something we desperately need in these times of conflict.

For my country, Italy, historically these figures have been quite low. Women used to account for 10 % of heads and 17 % of members of regional governments, and 10 % of mayors.  However, and I am proud to announce this, there has been some serious progress in the last decade.  2013 and 2014 figures indicate an increase in the number of mayors from 13% to 17%, deputy mayors from 28% to 19%, councillors from 23% to 30%! Now that is good figure.  30% of the local elected representatives were women!

I would like to mention here a report published by the Council of Europe in 2009 which analysed statistical data from 42 European countries on the representation of women in national or regional parliaments and local governments and bodies of the Council of Europe.

The report shows, for example, that the average number of women ministers grew to almost 29 % in 2008 from 20 % in 2005 and that in two countries – Finland and Spain – had more than 50 % participation of women in the composition of their national governments. The report also told us that 10% of mayors, 24 % of municipal councillors and 21 % of members of regional parliaments were women.

The question is, of course, whether the glass is half-full or half-empty. There has been significant progress if we count from zero, yet these figures are far from the 40% minimum in public decision-making bodies for both men and women, recommended by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in 2003 – let alone 50 per cent.

Why are these figures important? They are important because these are decision-making bodies which set policies and adopt laws and regulations that create the framework for affirmative action for women – employment and equal opportunities, access to social rights, support to women’s enterprises, action to ensure gender equality, or overall protection of women’s rights.

How can we improve women’s political participation in local government?

Mindful of this situation, the Congress has recommended measures to encourage the participation of women in local and regional political life.

In its Resolution 303 (2010) and Recommendation 288 (2010) adopted in March 2010 on the "Sustainable gender equality in local and regional politics”, the Congress encouraged women to run for office and to stand for elections and

i)                    called on local authorities to provide appropriate training for elected women officials and their staff,

ii)                   proposed a new approach to political parties, including the selection of candidates, where they should prioritise the candidates’ abilities to represent the concerns and experiences of the communities rather than their long past experience as elected representative.

iii)                 encouraged the establishment of women's networks, particularly in associations of local and regional authorities and their international associations, which is crucial to leverage the efforts and political impact for women.

I am pleased to say that we in the Congress practice what we preach. The Congress itself has set the quota requirement that women must represent at least 30% in each of its 47 national delegations – a requirement with which all countries must comply since 2008. As result, the goal of having women reach 30% of full members in every delegation was reached in 2011; in 2014 the ratio of 40% was attained.  These are good results and make a case for the establishment of quotas.

It is true that, in order to improve women’s political participation, establishment of quotas can trigger the process of participation and give women a chance to enter the political arena that has traditionally been reserved for men. Because sometimes good will alone is not enough – if we want to increase the participation of women in politics, we need a catalyst, and quotas can play this role. Initially, they force the hand of policymakers - until it becomes a habit, an accepted reality, and finally just a natural thing. They also allow us to create examples for the younger generation of women to follow, and convince politicians and the ordinary citizens that both participation and politics can be learned.

However, quotas are not alone sufficient. They do not help to maintain political participation, and even less to support a political career. Broader measures are needed to enhance skills through education and training, enabling women to reconcile their engagement with their family life, gather the support of professional associations and acquire social capital by networking.

We need awareness raising campaigns to encourage the election of women and to provide a positive image of female candidates. One of the main obstacles to women’s empowerment and equal influence in the decision-making process at local level, is the prejudice and stereotypes towards women that has become part of culture and thinking. Here I stress the important role of the media in the transformation of this mentality via clear antidiscrimination campaigns and information campaigns on the positive role of female representatives in the elected boards at local and regional levels.

The local authorities have a very important role to play in the fight against sexist advertising by establishing firm rules to make sure that the media messages are not insulting for the women. Here I would like to mention an example in Italy. The National association of Italian Municipalities (ANCI) signed a memorandum of understanding with the Self-Discipline Advertising Institute through which the association invites the municipalities to control the advert and bill posting discipline.

But also we need to look at the participatory democracy side of the question. To complete women’s presence in decision-making structures, we must promote their presence and participation in organisations outside of government, playing an advocacy role, through associations, women’s groups and neighbourhood councils, as well as lobbying and making claims on elected representatives and officials.

How can women’s involvement and gender-mainstreaming improve the ways women use the city?

Given that women experience and use the urban environment in different ways from men, they have different priorities in terms of services and infrastructure, for example with regard to transport, housing and basic urban services. This requires gender-awareness and although we expect all authorities to be sensitive to this issue, it is also true that women are more involved and more immediately concerned with these priorities. 

More and more, as women enter the public and political sphere to change the way we live, we have programmes for gender sensitive budgets, safer streets, female role models, training for women candidates to elected positions and campaigns inciting younger generation of women to take an interest in politics. In Georgia for example there is a training programme undertaken by the

As regards urban security, for example, “safe cities for women” programmes can focus on community awareness, setting up training modules for training individuals who know any of the legal rights of women, the legal sanctions for violence against women and for sexual harassment.

Women can also lead debates and campaigns on the use public space by women. Campaigns for reclaiming the public space for daily life can be a solution. Here I would like to mention example from Germany.

The International Network for Empowerment (MINE) is a grassroots self-help movement originating in Germany and spreading to 15 countries during the past two decades.

In these Mother Centers, women join forces together to improve the lives of their families and communities, connect with families from different social and cultural backgrounds and reclaim public spaces for their communities. They actively participate in civic governance. They function as focal points for the development of “close-to-home” services including childcare, eldercare, meal services and toy libraries. They provide meeting points within their respective neighborhood. Today, more than 750 Mother Centers exist worldwide.

In Italy exist anti-violence centres, so called “D. i. R.”, which welcome women who have undergone or have been undergoing male violence and try to help them to overcome the traumas and to regain their independency.

Another interesting example of the use of public space comes from Sweden: it concerns snow removal from streets in winter. It sounds a completely gender-neutral issue you may think. But it is more complicated than that. In Sweden people realised that snow removal had different consequences for men and women. Women usually walk together with their children, and use smaller roads and sidewalks more than men who usually travel more by car. Municipalities give priority to cleaning the main roads.  The last places to be cleared are the sidewalks. It was proven statistically that this is caused injuries among women and children who walked these streets. It was then decided to give priority to cleaning up places used by women and children first and main roads later to enable women and the people they care for to go out with less risk – making it easier for women to use the city.

I am hoping that today we can exchange other examples of interesting initiatives on ways women look at changing the way we live in cities.

I would like to end my speech on a matter that has profoundly affected us at the Congress, and myself particularly as a woman.  Just two days ago during our Congress session in Strasbourg we had the Mayor of Kobane as a guest speaker in our debate on cities and towns against terrorism.

The Mayor mentioned in his speech various difficulties they are having as regards the humanitarian aid corridor. We, as Congress, reacted to this by issuing a declaration asking European countries to support the Kobane population and called on Turkey to keep the humanitarian corridors open.

The Mayor also drew attention to the action of the terrorist group ISIS who are a threat to all women in the region because they engage in the rape and trafficking of women. Paradoxically, we know, through the news in the media, of radicalised young women leaving Europe to go and join these groups without realising what is at stake.

We have responsibilities on two fronts. We need to raise awareness among our populations in order to give support and to show solidarity with women in the region; at the same time we must also face the challenge of radicalisation in our societies by addressing the issue of living together in diversity. There is much we can do as local authorities starting with education and activities promoting intercultural and interfaith exchange.

Thank you for your attention.