“We need global data on women’s participation in local government”
The way to do so is by developing a robust indicator under the Sustainable Development Goals, write Emilia Sáiz, deputy secretary general of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), and Begoña Lasagabaster, chief of leadership and governance at UN Women, in a commentary published on Citiscope.
“What proportion of the world’s mayors and councillors are women? Which cities and regions are world leaders in gender balance in local institutions and why? Answering these questions is more difficult than it may appear at first glance. Despite the growing consensus on the role that women’s participation plays in sustainable development, there is no globally comparable data on the proportion of women in local elected office.
That gap could have major impact. It has been demonstrated that when women have greater voice and participation in public administrations, public resources are more likely to be allocated toward investments in human development priorities, including child health, nutrition and access to employment.
That’s why it’s so important that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the global anti-poverty agenda that entered into force last year, directly address the issue of women’s political participation. Under the framework, Goal 5 on gender equality and women’s empowerment includes a specific target to ‘ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life’.”
Read the full article on Citiscope.
On International Women’s Day 2017, UCLG , with the support of UN Women, is calling for a global indicator to track gender equality in local government and drive the achievement of SDG 5. For more information visit UCLG dedicated website: UCLG calls for locally elected women to #BeCounted to achieve SDG 5.
If you agree that we need to count locally elected women to achieve gender equality in local government, support the campaign on social media using the hashtags: #BeCounted, #WomensDay and #IWD2017
