Download Durante los días 21 y 24 de octubre de 2009 tuvo lugar en Seul

Successful Turnout in Seoul for the 2nd “Dynamic Cities Need Women" Forum
The 2nd International Forum on “Dynamic Cities Need Women: Visions and Challenges
for a Women-Friendly City”, organized by the Metropolis International Women’s
Network, was held in Seoul, South Korea, from 21 to 24 October 2009. The Forum
included the participation of 12 antennae of the Women’s Network, 70 speakers
including 11 female mayors and 1 male mayor; over 1,000 attendees from 40 cities in
35 different countries, and international organizations, experts from around the world,
students and civil groups. A great many participants also attended the training sessions
and roundtable discussions that took place in the run-up to the Forum on 20 and 21
October.
The opening ceremony was chaired by the South Korean Minister for Gender Equality,
Hee Young Paik; the Mayor of Seoul, Se-Hoon Oh; and the UN Deputy SecretaryGeneral, Asha-Rose Migiro. Also in attendance were Francine Senécal, the co-president
of the Forum and president of the Metropolis International Women’s Network and
Kyung Sook Lee, the co-president of the Forum in South Korea and director of the
Seoul Foundation of Women and Family, who remarked on and thanked the high
turnout of countries from around the world.
Francine Senécal thanked Metropolis president Jean-Paul Huchon for the work he has
done toward promoting women’s issues and the Seoul Foundation of Women and
Family for making the Forum possible. She pointed out the need to make a culturally
aware society in which women play an important role in society’s development as the
bridge for the fight for peace. Seoul Mayor Se-Hoon Oh emphasized that “if cities are
women-friendly, they will also be men-friendly and friendly for all humanity”. “Women
are still considered passive beneficiaries of policies,” he said, which is why “we have to
work for a real participation of women in political decisions”. The South Korean
Minister for Gender Equality spoke of the importance of achieving a society that offers
full opportunities to men and women and pointed out that women are the symbol of the
society of the future. The keynote speaker was the UN Deputy Secretary-General AshaRose Migiro, who discussed women’s greater vulnerability in relation to men at times
of crisis with regard to issues such as housing, transport, protection, safety and so on.
She also mentioned the importance of the fair and equitable participation of women in
political decisions. Ms. Migiro recalled that the 2005 UN Summit declared that
“progress for women is progress for all” and said it was necessary to continue to work
in this area because women and families need gender equality policies. The Beijing
Platform for Action and the UN Habitat Agenda recently approved specific goals in
favor of cities that are more equitable with women.
A more active Barcelona Antenna at the 2nd Forum
The Barcelona Antenna, through its representative Carme Figueras, a member of the
Parliament of Catalonia, played a very active role in the 2nd Forum. Ms. Figueras was
responsible for coordinating the Network of Social Protection with a Gender
Perspective committee and mentioned a number of hair-raising figures which show that,
despite the progress made in recent decades, differences between men and women
persist to a greater or lesser extent in all societies. In the EU, women earn an average of
17.4% less than men. 99% of land ownership is in male hands, compared to 1% of land
owned by women. Women hold only 10% of the money in circulation in the world and
represent around 70% of people living on under a $US1 a day. Women account for 70%
of the illiterate.
New and diverse family structures have failed to make substantial changes to public
policies. The inclusion of women in the workforce has not freed them from their old
domestic roles and has not been matched by an equal distribution of work, family and
personal time. Furthermore, the effects of the economic downturn are having a greater
impact on women and the crisis is adding new factors of vulnerability. The solutions lie
inexorably in tackling the structural causes of the feminization of poverty and at the
same time looking at specific groups at an increased risk of exclusion, such as young
women, elderly women, the handicapped, prostitutes, prisoners, carers of dependents,
migrants, women from ethnic minorities and the like. Tackling structural causes
involves overcoming the sex division of labor and working hours in general should be
adapted to the life cycles of women and men. The revaluation and recognition of
reproductive tasks and a transformation of the male way of understanding daily life
must be tackled. All of this is needed to ensure true equal opportunity in the workplace
and education, equal economic capacity, equal safety and equal social protection for
women and men.
Numerous specialists from organizations such as the UN Secretary-General’s Office,
the UN Division for the Promotion of Women, UN-Habitat and the Huairou Committee
acknowledged the values and difficulties women face in many cities in this century and
expressed their support for the initiative to create women-friendly cities. They also
agreed to take part in future projects of the Metropolis International Women’s Network.
The Forum concluded with the approval of the Declaration of Seoul signed in a protocol
event by the president of the Metropolis International Women’s Network and the copresident of the 2nd International Women’s Forum, as well as representatives of the
different antennae of the Women’s Network. The Declaration has already been adopted
by the Metropolitan Region of Chile, which is composed of 52 municipalities, and is
expected to be shortly adopted by the 36 municipalities of the Barcelona Metropolitan
Region as well. It is anticipated that the greatest possible number of local governments
will assume the Declaration and incorporate its principles into their municipal policies,
with the goals of working toward a new form of government that includes gender
equality and building more women-friendly cities.