By Ileana Ramirez and Catalina Hinchey Trujillo
A difficult implementation process
By Paola Jiron
Bringing the concerns of women into local urban management and
housing policy in Latin America has not been an easy task in recent
years. There has been much talk, and much difficulty getting decisions
institutionally implemented.
The abundance of manuals, checklists, and indicators, has not
been thoroughly or concretely translated into real improvements
for local urban communities, despite numerous efforts.
The establishment of different women’s offices throughout
Latin American municipal governments, along with focal points
in various sectors, reflects a better understanding and greater
recognition of the importance of gender in urban interventions.
In various municipalities, women’s offices have been installed
for over a decade, working with women’s organisations, linking
the physical, environmental and social areas of municipal intervention.
Some towns and cities in the region have hired permanent gender
experts and consultants to implement a gender perspective at the
municipal level. One of the most important advances in urban planning
is the largely general use of gender diagnosis, even if done only
through the disaggregation of data. It has been carried out in
consultation with women, and by weighing differences of opinion
between men and women, occasionally breaking the data down to
different age groups.
Many women in Latin America, either individually or collectively,
have increasingly raised awareness of the problems, the challenges
and the role women play, thanks to their intense community work.
Challenges for the future include making the case for gender
policies and ideas clear and understandable to everyone. It includes
recognising that gender responsibility should not rely on gender
experts, but instead be implemented throughout the local government
planning process. Special attention must be paid to local groups,
local initiatives, demands and concerns.
Further work must be undertaken on the spatial implications
of gender differences: the uses of public space, accessibility
in the neighbourhood and the city, are key elements in urban planning,
and vital for equal rights to the city.
The role of local government is essential even though central
governments, NGOs, CBOs, international organisations, private
and community organisations have to contribute to gender empowerment.
Paola Jiron is Director of the Housing Institute, University
of Chile |
The Beijing Platform of Action encourages governments and other actors
to promote the active and visible policy of gender mainstreaming in
all their policies and programmes.
This means that a gender perspective needs to be part of all planning
processes and areas of concern. Gender equality is intrinsic to sustainable
development. It is not meant to be the competence of one unit, one team
of experts, or one focal point, but rather of the entire organizational
structure, especially the sectors specifically responsible for the planning
and management of development.
The governments of Latin America and the Caribbean, at both the national
and local level, are heeding this call and most have already developed
their own strategies and indicators for measuring the achievement of
the MDGs.
Some of the best examples here are the joint partnerships between
local governments and civil society organisations being developed by
members of the HICWAS Women and Shelter Network, and the REPEM Network
of Grassroots Women Educators. Both organisations are members of the
Huairou Commission.
A series of initiatives in Perú, Colombia and Jamaica show
how new efforts are being undertaken to bring a clear gender equality
perspective into achieving the eight MDGs aimed at alleviating global
poverty and uplifting the poorest of the poor.
Perú
A joint agreement has been reached between Estrategia, an NGO and
member of HICWAS, and the municipal authorities of Ventanilla and Lurigancho.
It aims to develop a training and capacity-building programme for women
working in construction, while providing accessible and affordable housing
for the poorest of the poor.
The grassroots women of CONCREMAT, who have already been trained in
construction skills by Estrategia”, are in turn training other
women and also some men, in the development of cement blocks, water
tanks, roofing, and other construction material that can be used to
build decent homes for the poorest people of both municipalities. The
programme is thus achieving its two objectives of building affordable
homes for the poor, while offering women employment and skills in a
traditionally male-dominated field.
Colombia
The NGOs, CODACOP, AVANZAR and GAP, members of REPEM, are developing
an integral programme of capacity building, public policy intervention,
and income generation for grassroots women. This programme teaches leadership
skills and ways of effectively helping make public policy; while at
the same time creating a micro-credit system for women so that they
can have access to land and housing. Negotiations are currently underway
with eight local governments in the hope that they will buy into the
existing micro-credit system and promotion of the participation of women
in local development.
Jamaica
The CRDC Women’s Construction Collective is working with women
residents of Trench Town, the inner city quarter of the capital Kingston,
in a campaign to curtail urban and domestic violence against women.
The idea of the programme called, “One Woman Talking”,
is not only to encourage discussion among both victims and perpetrators
in an effort to minimize violence and ensure a better quality of life
particularly for women and girls in the Trench Town and beyond within
the inner-city, but also all inhabitants in general. Safety Audits are
also being developed.
With open forums, group discussions and confrontations between victims
and perpetrators being conducted, a bridge of mutual respect and acceptance
is gradually being built. The women’s collective has also helped
set up partnerships between commercial enterprises and municipal authorities.
With involvement of women and men in the community, these partnerships
encompass a wide range of activities from training and better employment
prospects, to cultural and sports events. This experience has proven
so positive A women’s perspective in Latin America and the Caribbean |
