WYDE | Women’s Leadership Programme Brings Gender Equality to the Forefront at the UCLG World Congress

Tangier, 22–25 June 2026 -The World Congress of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) was a landmark moment for advancing gender equality in local governance. Over 3,000 locally elected leaders met in Tangier, Morocco between 22-25 June 2026 to agree on priorities for the movement and exchange over regional experiences and best practices. Thanks to the WYDE | Women’s Leadership programme funded by the European Union and led by UN Women, UCLG gathered a record number of locally elected women leaders to the World Congress, supporting women’s voices, priorities, and leadership to the discussions of UCLG’s priorities and agenda.

UCLG Women’s Assembly: A Historic First

For the first time, UCLG convened its Women’s Assembly, bringing together locally elected women leaders from across the world. Alongside Emilia Saiz, Secretary General of UCLG, UN Women’s presence at the opening underscored the importance of this milestone, celebrating the collective power of women in shaping inclusive cities and communities. During the opening panel, UN Women Representative in Morocco Myriem Ouchen Noussairi recalled: “Women’s leadership is not only about who sits at the table. It is about how decisions are made, whose needs are heard, and whose lives are changed.” 

Ana Lucia Reis Melena, Mayor of Cobija (Bolivia), Laura Capobianco, Senior Advisor (UN Women), Sanjolli Padhi, the YP Foundation (India), Myriem Noussairi, Representative in Morocco (UN Women). Photos: UN Women/Léa Paccaud and UCLG.

The discussions highlighted a shared conviction: representation matters, but representation alone is not enough. Advancing gender equality requires public policies, budgets and social norms that enable women, in all their diversity, to fully exercise their leadership, influence and decision-making power.

Speakers such as Paola Pabón, Prefect of Pichincha, Ecuador, also emphasized the responsibility of women leaders to ensure that women at the local level know they are not alone, and to share successful experiences of public policies aimed at preventing and combatting  violence against women and girls, and promoting  women’s health and education. Mayor of Banjul, Rohey Malick Lowe praised concrete progress for women through the UCLG Feminist Municipal Movement, such as mentoring of young women counsellors, laws that criminalize domestic abuse or prohibit Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), while budgeting for care, maternal health, safe transportation and water access.  She also emphasized that this progress remains incomplete: “Our achievement as a Feminist Municipal Movement is real – but incomplete. Now we must change culture and norms. We have not normalized women in leadership yet. In many places, a woman mayor is still asked “who will take care of your children” while no man is ever asked the same”.

Women’s Assembly Opening: Carola Gunnarsson, Mayor of Sala (Sweden); Paola Pabón, Prefect of Pichincha (Ecuador); Femi Oke (Journalist and Moderator); Emilia Saiz (UCLG Secretary General). Photo: UCLG.

Advancing the Care Economy

Two key events on the care economy, a critical pillar for sustainable and equitable societies and democracies, took place under the WYDE | Women’s Leadership initiative. Adequate care systems are also essential for enabling women's political participation, as care responsibilities can constitute a structural barrier to women's access to leadership and decision-making spaces. At the Roundtable on Caring Territories, participants highlighted the global gender gap in care work, noting that women perform three times more unpaid care than men. Paola Pabón, Prefect of Pinchincha in Ecuador, stressed that “the crisis of care is not a crisis of services, but a crisis of justice, equality, and democracy,” pointing to the unpaid labor of women as the foundation of society. She described Pichincha’s initiatives, including holistic protection centers and alliances with civil society and international partners, as examples of care policies rooted in participation and solidarity. 

Roundtable: Caring Territories – Partnerships for Integrated Policies. Photo: UN Women/Léa Paccaud

Ana Falú, UCLG Ubuntu Advisor to UCLG, added that public services and local governments are the nucleus of equality and democracy, warning that while cities grow with massive infrastructure investments, care has been systematically disregarded due to the normalization of the sexual division of labor. She called for politicizing daily life and ensuring dignified work for women carers. Gertrude Dossa, Deputy Mayor of Porto Novo in Benin, emphasized that care policies must be organized locally, with true co-responsibility between men, women, civil society organizations and institutions while integrating climate justice to strengthen resilience.

Getrude Nena Dossa, Deputy Mayor in Porto Novo, Benin. Photo: UN Women/Léa Paccaud.

In the Care Lab session, UCLG began testing its new tool — a Training of trainer modules — designed to equip local governments with practical strategies to strengthen care systems. The lab opened with a powerful reflection: the opposite of care is individualism, patriarchy, neglect, and capitalism. Participants explored how care intersects with safety, mental health, housing, sustainability, and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.

Another important moment came during the Dialogue on Women’s Rights to a Life Free from Violence, where Laura Capobianco, UN Women Senior Policy Advisor on Ending Violence Against Women, recalled that “local governments often are positioned closest to the community, and play a critical role in catalytic safe city approaches with women’s rights organizations, businesses and other partners to ensure that cities are safe, smart, healthy, caring and sustainable for women and girls, and for all”. The discussion reinforced the global commitment to ensuring safety, dignity, and freedom for women everywhere while highlighting successful practices from Argentina, Ecuador, the Gambia, Spain and France.

From the historic Women’s Assembly to essential discussions on care and violence against women, UN Women’s participation contributed to position gender equality at the center of the UCLG World Congress, reaffirming the need to empower locally elected women leaders to advance gender equality at the heart of local governance.

United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) is an implementing partner of WYDE | Women’s Leadership, an initiative funded by the European Union and led by UN Women. WYDE | Women’s Leadership is a collaborative global effort aimed at advancing women’s full and effective political participation and decision-making at all levels, especially those most often left furthest behind.