On the road to the Generation Equality Forums in Mexico City (29-31 March 2021) and in Paris (29 June - 1 July), UCLG promoted a dialogue among the hosts of both Forums, in a space that gathered different spheres of governments to relate the process towards Paris and the adoption of the blueprints to accelerate action on gender equality 25 years after the Beijing Platform for Action. The session also discussed the shared responsibility of gender equality and the need for men and boys to get further implicated in this process.

UCLG Secretary General, Emilia Saiz, set the scene and recalled how joining the Generation Equality process had been a major inflection point for the world organisation towards the emergence of a global feminist municipal movement centred around care. She stressed the need to promote political leadership and the development of strong alliances that will help us change mentalities and find a way for local policies to also be feminist policies both owned by and for women and men. 

Maria Fernanda Espinosa, UCLG-UBUNTU Advisor, member of the Multi-Stakeholder Steering Committee of Generation Equality emphasized the Generation Equality Forum and six Actions Coalitions as a multilateral and inclusive process that allows to create the space and conditions for co-creation and intergenerational dialogue with all key stakeholders. “The features of the Generation Equality Forum is a profound democratic process, a platform that brings a multicultural, multigenerational dialogue. It will help us build forward better.”  Maria Fernanda Espinosa, UCLG-UBUNTU Advisor, member of the Multi-Stakeholder Steering Committee of Generation Equality 

Ambassador Delphine O, Secretary General of the Generation Equality Forum in Paris put emphasis on the need to accelerate the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, in order to reverse the backlashes against gender equality and the empowerment of women already ongoing before, and exacerbated by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. “What we need now are actions for acceleration of implementation. We need individual and collective commitments. Local governments and cities are welcome to become a driving force of Generation Equality.”

Ambassador Yanerit Morgan, Executive Secretary of the Generation Equality Forum in Mexico City (Beijing+25) concluded by recognizing the frontline position of local and regional governments both in the actions aiming at accelerating gender equality and the Beijing platform agenda and in the response to the pandemic crisis.

“We will include in the Forum this focus on the importance of local and regional contributions. We are very excited about this addition of the Mayors!" Ambassador Yanerit Morgan, Executive Secretary of the Generation Equality Forum in Mexico City

Then Deputy Mayor of Paris for Associations, Citizen Participation and Public Debate, Anouch Toranian, shared Paris’ long-standing commitment to make equality between women and men a reality in all areas, including on the institutional level and inside the administrations - in line with the mandate of Paris as Copresident of UCLG and President of the UCLG Permanent Committee on Gender Equality. The President of the Municipal Council of Montreal, Councillor of Tétreaultville District, Suzie Miron, recalled the importance to have access to sex-disaggragated data and intersectional analysis mechanisms in order to help assess the impact of local decision-making on women and build gender-responsive institutions, like the “comité paritaire” that was created in Montreal.

In the second panel, participants discussed the critical need to recognize the shared responsibility in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women among men and women, ensuring that men and boys are involved in the definition on the global feminist municipal movement as well as in the political debates on sustainable, inclusive and caring community development. 

Emil Broberg, Councillor of Östergötland Region, Third Vice-President of SALAR and CEMR Spokesperson on Gender Equality stressed the need to review notions of masculinity as means for a fairer redistribution of powers and tasks both in the public and private spheres, including for the promotion of the representation of women in local governments and their ability to take political assignments without opting out with children and family, to take political assignments with paid work. 

Following, Annie Chrystel Limbourg Iwenga, Vice-Mayor of Libreville highlighted the need to implement strategies aiming at encouraging transformative change and the concrete application of already existing legislative frameworks and instruments. On another hand, Cynthia López Castro, Mexican MP and Member of the Board of the Forum of Young Parliamentarians at the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), affirmed that the creation of gender-sensitive environments and institutions requires not only gender parity in leadership, but also clear mandates and resources for feminist programs, and should be continuously supported by women caucuses and networks. The Councillor of Vegreville Town, also representing the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), Taneen Rudyk argued for the need to create concrete tools and ensure good governance and good structures to support women leadership and participation in decision-making, for example considering the knowledge hub and the “run, win, lead” initiatives established in the country. On her side, Aminata Diallo, former member of national congress, and Special Advisor to the Mayor of Dakar on gender and childcare, pointed out the importance of education to transform social norms and contribute to gender equality, as well as training and capacity building opportunities to support women’s empowerment. 

Finally, Moving forward, it was recalled that UCLG, in collaboration with the cities of Mexico and Paris, will organize the plenary session of Local and Regional Governments on the 30th of March, as part of the Generation Equality Forum in Mexico.