The case studies will be part of the Engendering Habitat III: Facing the Global Challenges in Cities, Climate Change and Transport international conference (6-7 October, Madrid), organised by genderSTE in collaboration with UNESCO and the Technical University of Madrid. The conference tracks and topics will help define gender-related priorities for the New Urban Agenda, the UN strategy for sustainable urban development across the globe for the next 20 years.
Inés Sánchez de Madariaga, genderSTE Chair and Director of the UNESCO Chair on Gender Equality Policies in Science Technology and Innovation, stressed the example of genderSTE as a similar platform to those that UN-Habitat aims to create as a result of Habitat III – the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, taking place in Quito later this year.
” We are the main platform on gender and cities in Europe, andour networking activities held all over the European continent during the past four years we have impacted hundreds of individuals and organisations “, she added.
At Engendering Habitat III, architects, city planners and experts from academia, international organisations and the private sector will discuss the factors, strategies and previous experiences that have supported gender equality in the context of sustainable cities.
Some of these factors feature in the case studies that genderSTE developed throughout its four-year lifespan. For instance, the network suggested ways to integrate gender criteria and indicators in statistical analyses, in order to promote sustainable transport systems. This is because most transport users in urban areas worldwide are women, but they are not equally represented in project planning or decision making, and more than half do not feel safe commuting. Similarly, it is women that are most affected by extreme climate events related to climate change.
GenderSTE is a network of government bodies, research organizations, universities, non-profits, and private companies from 40 countries all over the world, as well as international organizations, promoting gender balance in scientific research and innovation and helping organisations working in city planning, transport, energy and industrial innovation become more gender-equal.