What is the WFCC?
The Women Friendly Cities Challenge (WFCC) is a living library of Wise Practices from around the world that help make cities more women friendly. The idea was born at the UN Habitat III conference in 2016, and WFCC officially launched at the World Urban Forum in 2018 - see the slider below for a full history.
Vision
To become a living virtual library where organizations can share knowledge, inspire innovative practices, and create new ways of working together to address the complexities of the 21st century, and to serve as a call for action that encourages cities around the world to become more women friendly.
Mission
The WFCC will:
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Allow for wide, multi-sector, and grassroots international participation
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Be used for networking and partnership development
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Serve as an evaluation tool for cities
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Help cities around the world become more inclusive and more resilient to the physical, social, and economic challenges they face, now and into the future
2016
The concept for the Women Friendly Cities Challenge (WFCC) Project was first introduced at Habitat III (full name: the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development) in October 2016 by Women Transforming Cities International Society (WTC). WTC held a panel discussion called "Women Friendly Cities Challenge," where they asked international women's organizations to share the Wise Practices they were using to make their communities more women friendly.
The panel included WTC, Women in Cities International (Montreal branch), and the Seoul Foundation of Women and Family (South Korea). Huairou Commission moderated the discussion. The discussion generated much enthusiasm and over 100 conference participants supported the idea of creating an international on-line platform to further develop the WFCC concept of sharing Wise Practices. WTC and the panel agreed on the basic categories to be used in developing the on-line platform.
Founding WFCC Contributors
Women Transforming Cities International Society
WTC's Vision is to live in cities where all self-identified women and girls, in all their diversity, have real social, economic and political power.
Huairou Commission
A global coalition empowering grassroots women leaders in development and policy-making around the world.
Seoul Foundation of Women & Family
Seoul Foundation of Women & Family is an empowering partner for equal society building through women & family policy, development and practice.
Asia-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW)
ARROW strives to enable women to be equal citizens in all aspects of their life by ensuring their sexual and reproductive health and rights are achieved.
Women In Cities International
Women in Cities International’s vision is one where there is a meaningful participation of a full diversity of women and girls in creating inclusive and equitable cities and communities.
Col·lectiu Punt 6
At Col·lectiu Punt 6 (Collective Point 6), we are a cooperative of architects, sociologists and urban planners of different origins with more than 10 years of local, national and international experience.
What is a Women Friendly City?
Simply put, a women friendly city is a city where:
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Women and girls can enjoy public spaces and public life without fear of being assaulted
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Violence is not exercised against women and girls in either the home or the street
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Women and girls are not discriminated against, and their economic, social, political, and cultural rights are guaranteed
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Women and girls participate in making decisions that affect the community in which they live
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The state guarantees the human rights of all people without excluding women and girls
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The state takes actions to provide attention, prevention, and punishment for violence against women and girls
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The state guarantees women's and girls' access to justice
WFCC Guiding Principles
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Goals will be based on internationally agreed upon documents where available, such as the UN Habitat outcome document, the New Urban Agenda, and the 2015 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
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Where possible, wise practices, tools, and data will use an intersectional lens
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Where possible, disaggregated and evidence-based data will be collected as well as document insights
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The WFCC will be used as an international networking tool to share information
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The online library will be open access and without use restrictions, but will have a structure that oversees what and how information is uploaded
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The online platform will be a "living library" so that users can collect and extract information that best serves their needs
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The website will be collaboratively developed and engage all sectors, including government, civil society, NGOs and grassroots organizations, academia, and the private sector
The Women Friendly Cities Challenge is administered by Women Transforming Cities (WTC).
Contact WTC
Or email us directly: [email protected]