From a feminist perspective, this means guaranteeing that women have a real voice and presence in discussion, representation and decision-making spaces.

Barcelona City Council is working to include women’s voices, needs and proposals in institutions and in municipal policy-making. This participation is also essential to prevent the gender mainstreaming strategy from becoming a technocratic tool that is out of touch with city residents’ real needs.

Article 18.1 of Act 17/2015, of 21 July, on Effective Equality between Men and Women, states that the public authorities’ actions and policies must highlight and acknowledge groups and associations that defend women’s rights, support them and promote their participation in designing, drafting, implementing and assessing public policies. 

In order to promote transformative participation with a gender perspective, City Council has created the Feminist Methodology Booklet #7: Voice and presence: Methodology for participatory gender mainstreaming. This document provides practical tools to ensure women’s active presence and the inclusion of their proposals in public decision-making.

How the gender perspective can be taken into account in relation to participation

• Guaranteeing diverse, accessible participation spaces, bearing in mind the specific realities and needs of women and under-represented groups.
• Reviewing existing participation mechanisms to identify barriers to access or to the recognition of women’s voices.
• Implementing methodologies that encourage active listening, the redistribution of talking time and feminist facilitation.
• Promoting the empowerment of women as political subjects, not only as recipients or users of services.
• Collecting, highlighting and including proposals from women’s groups and feminist organisations in municipal policies and initiatives.