Madrid opens up the debate on Sustainable Urban Development with a Gender Perspective
Invited by Professor Ana Falú, Coordinator of the UN-Habitat Gender Hub, the Metropolis Women International Network took part in a reflection carried out by a group of 40 people from 20 different countries, representing academic bodies and NGOs. The two-day event took place in Madrid and was concluded yesterday afternoon.
The purpose of the reflection was to establish a common strategy that can contribute to and influence the permanent work performed by the UN-Habitat. In short, and in the words of Olga Segovia, Coordinator of the Women and Habitat Network for Latin America, this involves “generating knowledge with a gender perspective” to use sound arguments to bring about a change of mentality among our government leaders.
"In the community, by the community, for the community"
Public space, participation and citizenship are some of the matters that enable the expansion of democracy in cities, and with it a richer, more decent, and solidarity-minded life.
The next meeting of the Gender Hub, in which Metropolis will participate, will take place in New York in the first week of March, as part of the 58th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, where the challenges and achievements with regard to the application of the Millennium Development Goals for women and girls will be among the subjects discussed.
Metropolis regularly collaborates with UN-Habitat on a number of different projects in the urban sphere. Metropolis and UN-Habitat will shortly run a joint session at the World Urban Forum 7, about which more information will be available shortly.