The Reports on the State of Women in Local Government were undertaken jointly with the Network of Local Government Training and Research Institutes in Asia and the Pacific (LOGOTRI).

Country Reports on the State of Women in Urban Local Government

Introduction

Unless women are involved in the decision and policymaking process at all levels of the state, changes in women’s political and to some extent social and economic status will continue to be marginal. Since the early part of 1990s, particularly after the Beijing Conference on Women and Development and the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II), women’s role in local, provincial and national political processes has been discussed throughout the region.  Moreover, the Beijing+5 and Istanbul+5 reviews identified women and politics and women and local government as important crosscutting issues.

Local government is the level of government where women can enter political life with relative ease, as the costs of mounting election campaigns are relatively low and issues at the local level tend to motivate women to enter politics. Moreover, local governments are good training grounds for women politicians who want to reach higher levels of elected or appointed office in government.

Moreover, women in politics and in decision-making positions in governments and legislative bodies provide opportunities for “transformative leadership” by redefining political priorities, placing new items on the political agenda that reflect and address women’s gender-specific concerns, values and experiences and provide new perspectives on mainstream issues.

While some countries in Asia and the Pacific have taken positive actions to promote the participation of women in local government and decision-making, nowhere in the region are women proportionately represented in local government, political parties or civil society organizations unless these are women oriented in nature.  Even in countries where opportunities for women’s representation and participation exist, women have not been able to effectively utilize these. The reasons are multiple: patriarchal social systems, social and cultural prejudices, financial dependence of women, lack of media support and exposure to political processes and limited training opportunities for women. Women may also be discouraged from seeking political office by discriminatory attitudes and practices, family and child-care responsibilities, the high cost of seeking and holding office and by the criminalization of politics.

To promote the participation and representation of women in local government the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP) has been implementing the multi-phase Advancement of Women in Urban Local Government project since 1999.  The first phase of the project culminated in the first-ever Asia-Pacific Summit of Women Mayors and Councillors, which was held at Phitsanulok, Thailand, from 19 to 22 June 2001.  The discussions at the Summit were based on a comparative analysis of the reports on the “State of Women in Local Government” prepared in the 13 participating countries. Each report contains:

• An in depth qualitative analysis of issues in women’s participation and representation in government.
• Relevant gender statistics.
• Steps already undertaken by governmental and non-governmental organizations and political parties to increase the roles of women in local government and in gender sensitizing of local governments.
• Further steps needed to promote the role of women in local government.
• Profiles of successful elected and appointed women in local government, emphasizing the factors that contributed to their success, as well as, hindrances and difficulties they faced.

Selected profiles have been published separately.  To access the profiles click here.

The Comparative Analysis and the State of Women in Urban Local Government Reports, together with the authors of the reports and their e-mails are below: