On International Women’s Day (the 8th of March) the ICLD hosted a panel discussion which brought together world-known feminist mayors as a part of their Local Democracy Talks series. The panelists shared many inspiring stories about their experiences of using a feminist lens to address the complex challenges their cities faced. Furthermore, ICLD announced the launch of its Network for Gender Equality during the event.
The panelists included:
- Dawn Arnold, Mayor of Moncton, Canada;
- Kanungwe Chota, Mayor of Kanchibiya District, Zambia;
- Aidubby Mateus, Mayor of Gámbita, Colombia;
- Celestina Tepaz, Mayor of Santa Maria de Jesús, Guatemala;
- Marianne Hennel, Councillor in Västervik, Sweden.
The panelists shared many inspiring stories, discussed the main challenges and barriers to achieving gender equality and proudly shared policies they implemented in their local governments that contributed to improving the representation and lives of women and girls. The panelists underscored the importance of democracy in achieving gender equality, as local communities play a crucial role in realizing change within society. This first hour of debate was followed by an hour of practical workshops that participants could join which were all aimed at creating a better understanding on how to stimulate the process of achieving gender equality.
The event also presented itself as a great opportunity for the ICLD to launch its Network for Gender Equality, which is a network of local governments from Sweden, Guatemala and Colombia that will collectively work towards achieving gender equality. The network will provide an international platform for local governments in Sweden, Colombia and Guatemala interested in gender equality and want to participate in international knowledge exchange. Municipalities will be able to apply for a municipal partnership program to conduct peer to peer learning and work on a project for up to 3 years. To learn more about this network make sure to click this link.