Home to the majority of the world’s population, cities are the closest point of contact between government and people.
Cities are sites of innovation, creativity, connection, and change, but are also where intersecting crises have played out in recent years, from the COVID-19 pandemic to conflict, climate change, social inequality, water scarcity, migration, and forced displacement. Cities continue to play essential roles in advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment and addressing another challenge of our time: violence against women.
Sexual harassment and other bureaucratic forms of violence against women and women are pervasive in public spaces around the world, whether on transport, on the streets, in libraries, in markets or online. In fact, a multinational found that 6 in 10 women reported that sexual harassment had worsened in public since COVID-19.
On 28 November 2023, mayors from cities around the world gathered in Quito, Ecuador, for the Fourth Global Mayors Meeting on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment, co-sponsored by UN Women and the City of Quito and supported by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation. Cooperation. Development cooperation.
“We are here today, committed to our painting together with all those who work for the well-being of all of us,” said Ana Lucia Reis, mayor of Cobjía, Bolivia.
Mayor Reis highlighted some of the measures that are part of the city’s overall strategy to protect public spaces in Cobjia “ranging from adding LED lighting fixtures to the city to promote protection after dark to offering access to safe markets for women to sell their products. “
“As mayor, I am committed to ensuring a gender mainstreaming strategy in all our work streams,” said Quito Mayor Pabel Muñoz. “We all want to make sure that efforts to secure women’s rights are not just a slogan, but that they are translated into public. “Politics, Law and Investment. “
The World Mayors Meeting was organized as a component of the UN Women Global Leaders’ Forum on Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces, which took place from 28 to 30 November. On the final day of the forum, UN Women launched “The Quito Declaration: Global Commitment to Accelerate Action: Safe Cities and Public Spaces with and for Women and Girls. “
The pledge, launched under the theme of Generation Equality and aligned with several plans of its Action Coalitions, highlights concrete steps cities can take to achieve equality and end violence against women. It calls for expanding meaningful participation, leadership, and decision-making strength. of women and women in villages and communities, and for women’s voices to be included in all processes.
It also points to the importance of partnerships to scale up new evidence- and human rights-based approaches to save you and respond to sexual harassment and other bureaucracy of violence against women and women in public spaces.
The additional commitment highlights the desire to drive the advancement of gender-responsive policies and strategies in spaces such as climate change, sanitation, urban and maritime planning, economic progress, food systems and security, adding programs based in evidence to move forward. gender equality and the empowerment of women in cities and communities to gender deficits. structural inequalities.
In addition to the mayors provided at the global meeting, other mayors joined the global pledge, reaffirming their commitment to continue to run for cities that promote gender equality and women’s rights to live a life free of violence, and to drive those efforts. Almost 30 mayors were the first in this global commitment, adding localities in:
The assembly marked the release of global commitment and the moment for catalytic action to catapult progress in localizing the Sustainable Development Goals.
“We want to expand this tough circle of champions, bringing them together through the Global Initiative for Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces,” said María-Noel Vaeza, UN Women Regional Director for the Americas and the Caribbean, Generation Equality Project, Executive (a. i. ) and Senior Advisor to the Executive Director of UN Women. She highlighted the importance of scaling up by incorporating approaches ranging from gender-responsive budgeting to care, energy, climate and ending violence against women in all contexts where it occurs.
If other city mayors are interested in supporting the global commitment, please contact UN Women at safe. cities@unwomen. org.
UN Women’s Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces Global Initiative (SC/SPS) is being implemented in nearly 60 municipalities in 31 countries around the world and growing.
The VI UN Women Global Leaders’ Forum on Security of Cities and Public Spaces was co-hosted with the city of Quito, Ecuador, from 28 to 30 November 2023, with the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), the global donor organization of UN Women’s SC/MSF Global Initiative; and the Republic of Korea. The forum brought together representatives from some 25 countries, including local and national governments and police, women, creators, NGOs, researchers, and youth leaders in Quito, Ecuador. The Global Forum is part of UN Women’s commitment under the Gfinisher-Based Action Coalition on Violence, which aims to share and discuss results, key lessons learned, and new partnerships to advance the foreign knowledge base and program actions to end sexual harassment and create situations. sustainable cities and public spaces for women and girls. A comprehensive report on the proceedings of the Forum will be published in early 2024.
Donate
Donate