Barcelona City Hall’s Women and Civil Rights Council

is in charge of promoting the local women’s rights.

It has a network of services for the personal and social improvement of women and against gender discrimination and gender violence, such as providing information, advice and counselling. Official website

Barcelona city hall has created some spaces to extend this service:

• The Barcelona Local Council for Women. It is a place to debate and speak about matters of interest for the city’s women and their demands. This council depends on the Council for Women and Civil Rights and the Management of the Women’s Programme.
• The Districts’ Women Councils are working organisations that are independent but linked to the district which seek to give suitable answers. There is a Council in every District of the city.

There are many proposals being developed by the Barcelona City Hall in order to work on the defence of women’s rights. The Programme of Municipal Action (PAM for its acronym in Spanish) 2012-2015 states in its Objective 1.9 “The promotion of equality amongst men and women based on respect and equity”. It also mentions that to achieve these goals cross-cutting policies are needed, in order to make the equality among Barcelona’s men and women a reality.

Some of the specific actions led by the Women and Civil Rights Council are:

• MUNICIPAL PLAN FOR THE REAL AND EFFECTIVE EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITIES AMONG WOMEN AND MEN

  Barcelona City hall’s Municipal plan for the Real and Effective Equality of Opportunities among Women and Men was created to make Barcelona a city that guarantees the equality of opportunities amongst women and men. Where everybody could develop their personal capacities and make decisions freely, with no limitations regarding their gender, have an egalitarian society and highlight Barcelona women and their talents.

  It is the document that articles the city hall’s policies to guarantee women’s rights through the cross-cutting application of a gender perspective. The Plan is divided in 7 axes: 1) Equality of opportunities: to establish a more egalitarian and respectful relationship between the men and women of Barcelona, 2) Joint Responsibility, 3) Participation, 4) Professional sphere, 5) Mainstreaming, 6) Care of vulnerability situations 7) Actions about violence against women and sexual exploitation. Every axis includes some general objectives which lead to the promotion and guarantee of equality of opportunities among women and men.

• THE CENTRE OF INFORMATION AND RESOURCES FOR WOMEN (CIRD for its acronym in catalan Centre d’Informació i Recursos per a les Dones)

  The CIRD is a municipal service to promote effective and real equality among women and men based in respect and equity. It offers information, counseling and resources to spread a gender mainstream with the purpose of incorporating into the activities, services, organization and internal functions of the city hall and public and private entities a perspective of gender.

  The specialists in equality of gender from the CIRD offer the following services to individuals, companies, states, organisations, institutions and the Barcelona city hall:

  • Information and counseling about the city’s services and resources network.
  • One-on-one and online counseling on regulations on equality of gender, measures to promote equity, procedures to obtain grants and subsidies, application for awards and acknowledgment and hallmarks, etc.
  • Technical assistance to incorporate the gender perspective in their activities and functions.
  • Development, management and loan of pedagogic resources for the awareness of equality of gender.
  • Management of memberships and dynamization of workshops and talks linked to the Citizen Agreement
  • Technical support for the incorporation of the gender perspective in governmental measures, action plans and in any other sphere where the municipal administration intervenes.
  • Follow up and evaluation of the Municipal plan for the Real and Effective Equality of Opportunities among Women and Men 2012.2015.
  • Reports on the living conditions of women in Barcelona.
  • Giving formative actions from a gender and equity perspective.

  CIRD has an action plan 2013-2014 consisting of some activities to be developed by the CIRD itself which are structured around 8 action lines: 1) Information, support and counselling, 2) Net-work with public and private entities, 3) Mainstreaming in the city hall, 4) Sensitivity and formation, 5) Monitoring of the living conditions of women in Barcelona, 6) Communication and diffusion of the service, 7) Documentary resources, 8) Support to specific projects of the Women and Civil Rights Council and the Woman’s Programme.

• AGENCY FOR THE INTEGRAL APPROACH OF SEXUAL LABOUR

  On the 28th of April 2006 in plenary session, Barcelona city hall approved the Plan for the Integral Approach of Sexual Labour. A series of services and resources were created on the framework of the Agency for the Integral Approach of Sexual Labour (ABITS for its acronym in Spanish). ABITS is the first municipal public service created to specifically attend the basic needs every person who exercises prostitution or sexual labour on the streets. Its main objectives are:

  • Integrally attend people who exercise sexual labour in Barcelona, especially those who do it on the streets to trade the exchange of paid sexual services.
  • Providing information and basic counselling about resources and specific services to women who require it. Follow up the requirements which need more flexibility and adaptation given the particular situation of the person.
  • Making the access to the specific municipal resources easier with respect to the needs and evolution of every situation.
  • Doing research in order to identify priorities, more efficient intervention methods and finding out what the durability of the obtained positive changes is.

• SCHOOLS NETWORK FOR EQUAL TREATMENT AND NO DISCRIMINATION

  This programme emanates from a governmental measure pursuing to educate people and make them understand the necessity to exercise freedom and responsibility reciprocally, as well as making them aware that every individual action carries implications in their community.

  This programme seeks to influence the beliefs and values of children and teenagers from ages 6 to 16. As well as teachers’ and families’ in order to strengthen attitudes and behaviours in favour of equality, equity and respect in their interpersonal relations. The programme has a preventive character. It aims to decrease (primary prevention) and detect on time (secondary prevention) abusive, discriminatory or xenophobic attitudes and behaviours amongst children, youngsters, women and men, transgender people, people from different backgrounds, cultures, religions, and sexual identity.