About this case study
In October 2022, Glasgow Council became the first in the UK to adopt gender mainstreaming when it passed a motion, proposed by Councillor Holly Bruce, to become a Feminist City. This committed to putting women at the centre of planning, public realm design, policy development and budgets and recognised that a gender-equal city is healthier and more liveable for all and required the council to:
- ensure equality impact assessments embed gender equality into strategy
- adopt a feminist town planning approach within planning policy
- gather intersectional gender-disaggregated data in all council consultations
- ensure recommendations from the Scottish Government’s review into the Public Sector Equality Duty are incorporated at the earliest opportunity
- incorporate gender competence training across all council services
- begin work on applying a gender budgeting lens to council budgets
The first stages in achieving this were to create a cross-party oversight group to monitor progress and to appoint a Feminist Urbanism Project Officer to co-ordinate work and strategy. In addition, Feminist City Action Fund has been created to support capital works and engagement, and this has already funded several projects which improve safety and walking, wheeling and cycling.
For example, at Castlemilk Park to the south of the city, the Action Fund, along with Walking Scotland, funded a new route. The new route opened up what had been an area of dense vegetation and poor maintenance, improving connections for commuting and to two adjacent nurseries. New lighting was also part of the scheme, contributing to make the park feel safer and enabling women and girls to consider using the park at night.
Additional projects include a Public Toilet Strategy, co-design works in parks to create spaces designed for girls and engagement with women and girls to inform future policies and interventions.
Next steps for the city include developing a feminist city strategy and a design toolkit, training throughout the council and further lighting schemes to improve safety and accessibility for women in Glasgow’s public spaces.
More information can be found on the council’s Feminist City website.
Image credits: Glasgow City Council.
