On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, UCLG Committee on Social Inclusion, Participatory Democracy and Human Rights wants to highlight the French association Gender and City association (Genre et Ville).
Gender and City defines itself as a “Think Tank and a Do Tank, aiming to raise questioning and subversion of gender issues in territories, through original and diverse actions, as well as a work of reflection and discussion”. The association approaches violence against women through different perspectives: urbanism, geography, feminism, political sciences, gender studies, art… and through a direct involvement in territories and their people.
For Gender and City, “women’s fear in public space is not a result of reality, but a social, sociological and historical construction aimed to consolidate power. Historically tightly linked to cities’ development, fear is also a tool for masculine domination”.
Indeed, the association condemns the fact that, by trying to control men’s violence in cities, public and sportive equipments are adapted for them, whereas women are proposed to “secure” urban paths through regulations and requirements. By loudly and clearly saying that “There is no danger!”, Gender and City members aim to demonstrate that change is accessible for all. To do so, Gender and City shows its belonging to public space and its will to modify boundaries and circulations and movement by occupying it.
Since its creation in 2012, Gender and City has performed diverse actions: diffusion and awareness-building workshops, studies of cities, training, participation in media, institutional acts… They have also worked in many cities, among which the following stand out: Lyon, Paris, London, Copenhagen, Marseille, and Bordeaux. They have intervened on them through actions linked to urban territory-building from a gender and women’s right to the city perspective.
You can access to Gender and City website here.