Municipal Women’s Councils

Location: Barcelona, Spain

Organization: Col·lectiu Punt 6

Category

Governance & Leadership

Goals

Goal 2: Strengthen the interface among stakeholders, offering opportunities for dialogue, including through age- and gender- responsive approaches, with particular attention to contributions from women and others (NUA 42).

Goal 3: Promote participatory age- and gender-responsive approaches at all stages of the urban and territorial policy and planning processes (NUA 92, 155).

Measurement

The Barcelona Women’s Council has been operational for more than 20 years and was founded in 1994.

Barcelona City Council has a Plan for Gender Justice, and for each of the plan’s specific objectives, a number of indicators have been established. The majority of these indicators are based on impact, as they are used to measure the achievement of the objectives set out in the plan. The plan’s evaluation will consider both quantitative and qualitative information. The indicators laid out in this plan will help to measure the progress made by the Municipal Women’s Councils. Learn more.

Lessons Learned

The goal of Municipal Women’s Councils is to contribute and enrich all the City Council’s policies with a gender perspective, to make headway in gender justice in Barcelona.

At the city level, the Barcelona Women’s Council is a participatory space for discussing and dealing with issues of interest for Barcelona’s women, made up of representatives from feminist associations and womens groups, women who are not part of any association, as well as institutional and expert representatives. The Women’s Council makes recommendations, advises and provides criteria and elements of judgement. Their proposals are taken into account by the city government, although they are not binding.

At the district level, the District Women’s Councils are independent bodies aimed at providing local responses adapted to each of the city’s various realities. There is one independent council in every district and two representatives from each district are on the Barcelona Municipal Women’s Council.

Monitoring

Barcelona’s Plan for Gender Justice, identifies that Barcelona’s Council for Feminisms and LGTBI is responsible for providing ongoing feedback on the progress made at the Women’s City Council.

The Plan for Gender Justice also identifies that the Women’s Council of Barcelona has created a permanent work group for gender mainstreaming that will work on the involvement of the city’s feminist groups in the management and monitoring of the plan.

Resources and More Information

1. More information about the participatory bodies.
2. City of Barcelona Plan for Gender Justice 2016-2020