This opinion article was written by Paula Bisiau, Subsecretary of Sustainable and Safe Mobility in the city government of Buenos Aires, Argentina. This article was chosen as one of the finalists in Apolitical’s women in government writing competition.

Sometimes historical circumstances give us the opportunity to contribute to social and cultural movements that are really trascendental.

I believe that today I can count myself among those privileged.

Like other countries in the Western world, Argentina is experiencing a true “women's revolution” that has triggered an impressive wave of cultural and social changes in all spheres of social life, both public and private. For this reason, the gender agenda has gained importance in the public debate, and women's movements have an increasingly prominent place in Argentina’s political space.

In November 2017, a new law was passed which guarantees parity on electoral lists, and in 2018 the debate over acess to abortion, which is legal only under three circumstances, reached the National Congress for the first time in history.

And the debate was not just about equality in political or institutional representation: the economic dimension of  inequality between men and women also became more evident, and the gender pay gap was addressed in the opening speech of the Legislative Assembly of President Mauricio Macri in March 2018. He also launched the National Plan for Equal Opportunities and Rights, the main planning tool to encourage public policies that promote gender equality.

I believe that women’s right to life in the city rests on their ability to live freely, to enjoy and create the city, and to "decide" its public spaces and their uses

This strategy focuses on four issues: autonomy in decision making; physical autonomy; economic autonomy; and cultural transformation as a transversal goal. In local government, we are faced with the challenge from society, as citizens ask what we are doing to help strengthen this process? Similarly, how can we translate this immense social and cultural transformation into action in an urban setting?

As both a woman and a public official my responsibility is even greater: for me, it is a matter of gender solidarity, as well as a task of political management.

Redesigning the city for all

I believe that women’s right to life in the city rests on their ability to live freely, to enjoy and create the city, and to "decide" its public spaces and their uses.

In this sense, the incorporation of a gender perspective in urban planning is about problematizing how the city and it’s spaces contribute to, strengthen and reproduce gender roles and stereotypes and that visible. It’s about reversing an urbanism that has been designed by and for men, and to help invent a city that is also for women and all human groups.

With that spirit, we began in 2017 to investigate and work on the implementation of a comprehensive Mobility and Gender Plan from the Secretariat of Transport, with the intention of being able to introduce concrete and real changes in the (traditionally male-dominated) transport sector with a gender perspective.

So far we have managed to increase the number of women working in the transport sector, both in management roles as well as increasing the number of women behind the wheel of taxis, subways, buses and road safety and transit agents

We had several goals that we wanted to achieve: eradicating violence and harassment in public spaces and urban transport; the incorporation of a gender perspective into public transport, guaranteeing safety in all urban routes; the inclusion of women as workers in the transport sector; the modification of gender cultural patterns rooted in society, especially through massive communication and education campaigns.

In order to meet these objectives, we proposed four elements of action in our plan that address inclusion, violence prevention and protection of women in urban public space and transport in particular. These were:

  • Design and urban planning with a gender perspective
  • Inclusion of women in the labour market
  • Producing data and statistics about urban mobility
  • Communication and awareness.

A new road to gender equality

The plan has already been set in motion, and so far we have managed to increase the number of women working in the transport sector, both in management roles as well as increasing the number of women behind the wheel of taxis, subways, buses and road safety and transit agents.

We have initiated a massive communication and awareness campaign on street sexual harassment in public transport, with high impact throughout the City of Buenos Aires; we launched training programs for public officials within the City administration on gender issues and developed a complete and homogeneous diagnosis of the problems of women in our City, essential to develop a strategy in the medium and long term.

These concrete actions were made possible in a very short period of time because there are women in decision-making positions all over the Government of the City of Buenos Aires that know and understand women’s needs, and who have worked together to make this happen. This is what sorority in practice means.

Being a woman in politics it’s not always easy, but seeing this kind of solidarity in action empowers us and makes us work harder every day. Together we can make change happen. — Paula Bisiau

(Picture credit: Unsplash)