International Brussels
Difficulties and solutions in implementing the gender vision are shared in Brussels
On the 18th of January of this year, the Brussels-Capital Region hosted the workshop entitled Sharing practices of gender mainstreaming methods in subnational and local policies. This was the first Metropolis event in 2017 which promoted inclusion from the gender perspective in all policies and at all organisational levels. In addition to the host city, other members of Metropolis like Barcelona, Mexico City and Seoul shared the difficulties and solutions that have emerged around implementation of the gender vision in their different public policies, such as budgets, tenders, statistics and environmental disaster management.
“Equal opportunity runs transversally through all issues,” stated the Secretary of State of Brussels for Equal Opportunities and the European Regional Vice President of Metropolis Women, Bianca Debaets, in the opening of the workshop. Another participant in the event was Laura Pérez Castaño, the Councillor for Feminisms of the Barcelona Town Hall and President of Metropolis Women, who drew attention to the challenges facing us in our headway towards gender equality: “The commitment of all members to ensure the empowerment of the women and non-heteronormative genders who reside in our cities, as well as the conception and implementation of policies with a gender vision: this will be our main challenge.”
The day ended with an exchange of experiences among the participants which enriched the presentations by the Metropolis members invited. Based on this exchange, key proposals were drawn up to guide the efforts to overcome the obstacles that arise during the process of implementing the different policies with a gender vision.
The goal of the workshop was to foster cooperation, exchange and inspiration among the different government stakeholders specialising in gender mainstreaming matters. This goal is aligned with the framework of Metropolis’ new vision of “cities for and by their citizens”, which spearheads an inclusive model of governance and places the everyday lives of their residents at the core of our cities by means of incorporating the needs and experiences of women and other genders, thus responding to their needs and experiences and avoiding the androcentric approaches that have been so entrenched until now.