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IULA Declaration
Preamble
1. The World Executive Committee of the International Union of Local
Authorities (IULA), the worldwide association of local governments,
meeting in Zimbabwe, November 1998;
2. Recalling the Worldwide Declaration of Local Self-Government adopted
at IULA’s 31st World Congress in Toronto, 1993;
3. Recalling the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the United Nations Declaration
on Women and Platform for Action adopted in Beijing in 1995, in
particular the principle, recognised in Article 344 of the Beijing
Platform for Action, that international organisations, such as IULA,
have an important role to play in implementing the UN Platform for
Action;
4. Recognising that the reasons as to why women are not represented
equally in local government are multiple, and that women and men
throughout the world live under different conditions and women do not
have the same access to and control over economic and political
resources as men;
5. Considering that local government, as an integral part of the
national structure of governance, is the level of government closest to
the citizens and therefore in the best position both to involve women in
the making of decisions concerning their living conditions, and to make
use of their knowledge and capabilities in the promotion of sustainable
development;
6. Emphasising that the mission of IULA cannot be realised without the
equal and systematic integration of women into democratic local decision
making and that democracy cannot be realised without adequate
representation, participation and inclusion of women in the local
governance process;
WE, THE MEMBERS OF IULA, REPRESENTING LOCAL GOVERNMENTS WORLDWIDE,
FIRMLY BELIEVE THAT:
7. Democratic local self-government has a critical role to play in
securing social, economic and political justice for all citizens of
every community in the world and that all members of society, women and
men, must be included in the governance process;
8. Women and men as citizens have equal human rights, duties and
opportunities, as well as the equal right to exercise them. The right to
vote, to be eligible for election and to hold public office at all
levels are human rights that apply equally to women and men;
9. The problems and challenges facing humanity are global but occur and
have to be dealt with at the local level. Women have the equal right to
freedom from poverty, discrimination, environmental degradation and
insecurity. To fight these problems and to meet the challenges of
sustainable human development, it is crucial that women be empowered and
involved in local government as decision-makers, planners and managers;
10. Local government is in a unique position to contribute to the global
struggle for gender equality and can have a great impact on the status
of women and the status of gender equality around the world, in its
capacities as the level of governance closest to the citizens, as a
service provider and as an employer;
11. The systematic integration of women augments the democratic basis,
the efficiency and the quality of the activities of local government. If
local government is to meet the needs of both women and men, it must
build on the experiences of both women and men, through an equal
representation at all levels and in all fields of decision-making,
covering the wide range of responsibilities of local governments;
12. In order to create sustainable, equal and democratic local
governments, where women and men have equal access to decision-making,
equal access to services and equal treatment in these services, the
gender perspective must be mainstreamed into all areas of policy making
and management in local government.
Local government as a service provider and enabler of sound living
conditions
13. Women have the right to equal access to the services of local
governments, as well as the right to be treated equally in these
services and to be able to influence the initiation, development,
management and monitoring of services. The provision of services such as
education, welfare and other social services by local governments,
should aim to see women and men as equally responsible for matters
related both to the family and to public life, and avoid perpetuating
stereotypes of women and men;
14. Women have the equal right to sound environmental living conditions,
housing, water distribution and sanitation facilities, as well as to
affordable public transportation. Women’s needs and living conditions
must be made visible and taken into account at all times in planning;
15. Women have the right to equal access to the territory and
geographical space of local governments, ranging from the right to own
land, to the right to move freely and without fear in public spaces and
on public transport;
16. Local government has a role to play in ensuring the reproductive
rights of women and the rights of women to freedom from domestic
violence and other forms of physical, psychological and sexual violence
and abuse;
Local government as an employer and in a strategic position to
influence local society
17. Women have the equal right to employment in local government and
equality in recruitment procedures. As employees in local government
women and men have the right to equal pay, equal access to benefits,
promotion and training, as well as the right to equal working conditions
and treatment in the evaluation of their work;
18. Women’s often heavy workload of paid and unpaid work is a barrier
to their ability to take part in decision making. Local government has
an important role to play in providing affordable, professional and safe
care services for children, older people and people with disabilities,
be that directly or in partnership with the private or the voluntary
sectors, and in promoting the sharing of household tasks by women and
men on an equal basis. Men have the equal right and responsibility to
care for their children and relatives and should be encouraged to do so;
WE, THE MEMBERS OF IULA, REPRESENTING LOCAL GOVERNMENTS WORLDWIDE,
COMMIT OURSELVES TO:
19. Ensuring that the conditions within our local governments and
associations allow our beliefs as stated in this document to be
realised;
20. Strengthening our efforts to make equal the number of women and men
in decision-making bodies at all levels and in all policy areas, and our
efforts to ensure women’s qualitative participation in councils,
committees and other groups related to decision-making in local
government;
21. Applying the mainstreaming principle by integrating a gender
perspective into all policies, programmes and service delivery
activities in individual local governments and their representative
associations at national, regional and international levels, and to
developing methods for monitoring and measuring this mainstreaming work;
22. Looking for new ways to ensure that women are represented and
actively participate by formal as well as informal means in the process
of local governance;
23. Strengthening international and national cooperation between local
governments, supported by national, regional and international
associations of local governments, in order to further the exchange of
experiences, as well as to devise and develop methods, policies and
strategies that help offset barriers to women’s participation in local
decision-making;
24. Outlining, implementing and monitoring action plans for promoting
equal opportunities in the municipal workplace, encompassing equal
opportunities of recruitment, promotion, remuneration, as well as equal
working conditions;
25. Working for changes of attitudes related to gender issues by
awareness-raising in the education system and within the political and
administrative structure of local governments;
26. Working actively with other actors of society, including national
gender systems and organisations, the private sector, non-governmental
organisations, professional groupings, women’s groups, research
institutes and trade unions in accomplishing the goals of this
declaration;
WE CALL UPON NATIONAL GOVERNMENTS TO:
27. Acknowledge that local government has a critical role to play in
creating sustainable democracies and gender equal societies, and
therefore, to grant constitutional, legal and financial autonomy to
local governments to enable them to meet their democratic
responsibilities;
28. Support, encourage and create opportunities and resources for local
governments to work for and promote gender equality;
29. Recognise national associations of local governments as important
partners in the development, promotion and support of gender equality at
the local level, and in the exchange of experiences at the
international, national and local levels;
30. Work in partnership with local government associations and their
members to implement the Beijing Platform for Action and the Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW);
31. Guarantee and enforce the right of women to a legal capacity
identical to that of men and to the same opportunities to exercise that
capacity, by ensuring equality and non-discrimination before the law and
in practice;
32. Guarantee and enforce the right of women to participate in the
democratic system, by ensuring women the equal right to vote, to be
eligible for election and to hold public office;
33. Develop and augment knowledge in the field of gender by ensuring
that statistics collected on individuals are gender disaggregated and
analysed with a gender perspective, and to make available resources for
academic research with a gender perspective, that can be of use for the
development of gender equality in local government;
WE CAll on THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO:
34. Implement the Beijing Platform for Action, Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and
this declaration;
35. Recognise the local level as the level of governance closest to the
citizens with a critical role to play in attaining the objectives of
gender equality agreed upon by National Governments through the United
Nations, and therefore;
36. Work with Local Government and its institutions at all levels to
promote the equal participation of women and men in local
decision-making in all its forms, formal and informal;
37. Support programmes initiated by local governments and their
associations aimed at increasing the representation of women in local
government and local positions of leadership.
Harare , Zimbabwe November
1998
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In April 1997, the International Union of Local Authorities (IULA)
established an international task force on Women in Local Government to
address the political and professional under-representation of women in
decision-making positions, and to develop gender mainstreaming in local
government policy development and service provision. After broad
consultation within IULA’s worldwide membership and with its inter-
governmental and UN partners, the IULA Worldwide Declaration on Women in
Local Government was launched in November 1998.
The Declaration is currently being discussed, ratified and transformed
into action plans by local governments and their associations worldwide.
IULA World Secretariat is monitoring this process and welcomes written
confirmation of new ratifications, which will be added to the list on
the IULA web-site (www.iula.org ).
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IULA Laan Copes
van Cattenburch 60A 2509 LP The Hague tel:
+ 31 70 306 6066 fax:
+ 31 70 350 0496 email:
iula@iula-hq.nl http://www.iula.org
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