An innovative and interesting seminar on ‘Women Friendly Cities Challenge’ followed by a panel discussion will be held on Tuesday, July 17 from 2.30 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the National Chamber of Commerce of Ceylon (NCCSL) at D. R. Wijewardene Mawatha, Colombo 10.
It has been organised by NCCSL and the World University Service of Canada. The Mayoress of Colombo, Rosy Senanayake will be the chief guest.
The Women Friendly Cities Challenge is an International collaboration to educate the public to make cities a safer place for women to give the proper security and safety measures to our women.
It is a call for action to the stakeholders/organiszations/academia and corporations to make unified effort to find ways and means towards making it more women friendly and nature friendly environment.
Strategic Advisor of WUSC and Board Member of ‘Women Transforming Cities International’ Celine Fung, will make a presentation.
The other speakers include, CEO of the Chamber of Construction Industry, Nissanka Wijeratne, Member of The Hotels Association Sri Lanka’ (THASL), and Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management (SLITHM), CEO, Global Towers Management (Pvt) Ltd., Nirmo Thambapillai, Professor of Building Economics, Prof. Chitra Weddikkara Chartered Architect and Quantity Surveyor, formerly of the Directorate of Internal Intelligence, Vocational Training Authority (VTA) National Apprentice and Industrial Training Authority (NAITA), Dr Ajith Colonne.
Participation is free.
The Women Friendly Cities Challenge is also a call for action to encourage cities around the world to become more women friendly There are countless wise practices around the world to make their cities women-friendly and many can be adopted to fit our city - a place where women can safely access services such as healthcare, public transport, social services, and education with the same ease and opportunity as men.
The main purpose of this discussion is to educate the partner organisation and stakeholder of what WUSC need to make our cities a safer place for women and how a city can be more environmental friendly.
The Vision of the Women Friendly Cities Challenge (WFCC) is to become a living virtual library where we can share knowledge, inspire innovative practices and new ways of working together to address the complexities of the 21st Century. An International Collaboration Online Library of Wise Practices was launched at the 2018 World Urban Forum 9. The WFCC website is a way of sharing Wise Practices from all over the world to help make cities more women friendly and thus better for all.
There are countless wise practices around the world to make their cities women-friendly and many can be adopted to fit your city. A women-friendly city has been described as one where women’s perspectives are central to the design process, and where women can safely access services such as healthcare, public transport, social services, and education with the same ease and opportunity as men.
“Women have historically been excluded from city building and, despite progress in many areas, there are still significant gender gaps and inequalities,” Fung notes.
“Making a women-friendly city is not to exclude others but to make the city more inclusive.
“Using a gendered-intersectional lens can eliminate the gaps and ensure that all, including young children and other vulnerable groups like the disabled and migrant community, are able to fully participate in the life and economy of the city,” she said.
Derived from international agreements such as the New Urban Agenda, the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals and the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the wise practices are divided into 16 categories including Governance/Leadership, Safety, Housing/Land Rights, Health, Transportation, Environment/Resilience, Indigenous Peoples, Arts/Media/Culture and Economic Security.
“The living library can also be used as an evaluation tool for cities with information on measurement of outcomes and lessons learned. Sri H. Sofjan, senior program administrator and strategist with Huairou Commission, a coalition of global women’s grassroots organisations, says cities have a lot to learn from grassroot communities, even those from rural areas.
“Women in many villages keep a seed library to ensure food security during the drought season.
“In Quezon City, Philippines, a group called Damayan ng Maralitang has a tool library where they keep tools so that women can do their own repairs at home.
“They are small things but go a long way to give women independence and security.” Malaysia also has many wise practices that can be shared, she said. One is the women-only coaches on commuter trains introduced by KTM Berhad in 2010 after it received complaints on sexual harassment during peak hours. Recently, KTMB and the Land Public Transport Commission launched extra patrol operations and awareness campaigns following complaints from women about harassment from male passengers who refuse to move out of the women coaches.
A regional organisation championing sexual and reproductive health rights based in Malaysia, Asian-Pacific Resources and Research Centre for Women, is developing a digital knowledge and sharing centre to reach a wider group of women in the region.