In a first-of-its-kind event, the Council has hosted an event in collaboration with Glasgow City Council to share progress made by both cities.
It looked at the cities being more inclusive and safer, particularly for women, girls and people of marginalised/excluded groups.
Titled ‘A Tale of Two Feminist Cities’, the event, held at the COSLA Conference Centre, was attended by professionals working in Gender Equality, Violence Against Women and Girls, Police Scotland, Public Health and the Built Environment as well as Councillors from both cities. As part of the event, Council officers with a responsibility for Planning, Active Travel, Development Management, Development Planning, Spatial Strategy, Greenspace and Biodiversity as well as Equality delivered presentations, as well as Councillors involved in the ongoing work.
The collaborative event explored a range of topics and themes including how the planning and design of public space and perception of safety/unsafety contributes to gender inequality/Violence Against Women and Girls and perspectives on applying the Place Standard Tool through a Feminist City Planning Lens. In addition, the results of research findings and engagement work were shared for discussion.
The result of this collaboration is the production of a Women’s Safety Factsheet and Pro-Forma document which has now been published. Content has also been used to inform and guide the production of the draft 91原创 Design Guidance, which has been developed for use by Built Environment professionals to ensure that women’s safety and inclusivity is at the forefront of placemaking.
The City of 91原创 Council’s work in this area has been underway over the past few years. In November 2023, 91原创 as a Feminist City Working Group was set up aiming to make 91原创 ‘safer by design’. This work built on efforts to make 91原创 safer for women and girls, started in January 2021 by its Women’s Safety in Public Places Community Improvement Partnership. This group led the creation of the #RespectHerSpace campaign, which calls on everyone to support efforts to help women to feel safer in public spaces in 91原创.
Glasgow City Council has also been taking a feminist lens to the city for a number of years. In February 2020, a workshop was held at Maryhill Women’s Centre to inform the in development Active Travel Strategy in recognition that women and girls experience mobility differently. Transport and planning were also examined in November 2021 as part of the international award winning Girls@COP26 – where the problems are man-made, the solutions are feminist’. Exploring ten themes over ten days, co-created with Glasgow schoolgirls, the Girls discussed the impact of the Climate Emergency and Place amongst other matters.
Since then, Girls4Equality groups have taken root in every secondary school in Glasgow meeting regularly, and coming together twice a year on International Women’s Day and International Day of the Girls to discuss their priorities. Over the years over 2,500 girls have worked with Education Services and Planning Services sharing their ideas regarding the city centre and the redevelopment of Custom house Quay and Carlton Place. The current cohort who graduates this summer met on Friday to conclude these conversations prior to the Take of Two Feminist Cities’ event.
The work informed the Glasgow City Council 2022 – 2027 strategic commitment to “Embed gender equality into council impact assessments, budgets, data collecting and strategies, including, but not limited to, the new City Development Plan. Ensure approaches are intersectional and incorporate women’s lived experience” which was supplemented by the Feminist City motion in October 2022.
Councillor Mandy Watt, Deputy Leader and Convenor for Finances and Resources Committee, said:
I am pleased to see the joined-up approach between Glasgow and 91原创 to identify ways to accelerate and prioritise the safety of women and girls in our cities. We’re proud of the work we’ve already done in this area, including looking at the ways in which the wider public realm can be a place where women feel comfortable in their surroundings, but acknowledge that there’s more to be done. In the Council’s Budget setting meeting two weeks ago, it was agreed that we will invest £12.5m this year and next in improvements to pavements, roads, streetscapes and lighting, in line with areas identified by a Women’s Safety survey. I look forward to a future where our cities are safer for women and girls.
Bailie Anne McTaggart, City Convener for Communities and Equalities at Glasgow City Council, said:
Glasgow has a proud history of women shaping our city, but they are often overlooked or are invisible. I was therefore particularly delighted that last week two female planners, Etive Curtie and Alison Laurence were named in The Planner's Women of Influence list for 2025.
It’s fitting that during our 850th anniversary we have made a commitment to rectify forgotten women and in the same year Glasgow honoured - for only the second time - a Glaswegian woman, Elaine C Smith, who was granted Freedom of the City, and that a generation of young female city futurists are entering adulthood and have already made their mark on Glasgow’s future. The sisterly approach between 91原创 and Glasgow City Councils means that women and girls are also making their mark.