Only a third of councillors in England are women. Our analysis reveals that this figure has scarcely changed over the last two decades. Even fewer women progress to lead their councils. Councils do not reflect the diversity of our society, and disabled and ethnic minority women experience multiple discrimination. New survey data reveals that within this male-dominated environment, sexism is worryingly commonplace in the council chamber and local parties. Women councillors experience barriers due to unpaid caring responsibilities and a lack of flexibility in how councils do business much more than their male counterparts. They are more excluded from informal networks, and are less confident that their voices will be heard. Women councillors are no less ambitious to progress than men – but they feel pigeonholed on the basis of their gender, and held back by the way councils operate. The evidence reveals an outdated culture which is holding local government back. It is ripe for change.

Only a third of councillors in England are women. Our analysis reveals that this figure has scarcely changed over the last two decades. Even fewer women progress to lead their councils. Councils do not reflect the diversity of our society, and disabled and ethnic minority women experience multiple discrimination. New survey data reveals that within this male-dominated environment, sexism is worryingly commonplace in the council chamber and local parties. Women councillors experience barriers due to unpaid caring responsibilities and a lack of flexibility in how councils do business much more than their male counterparts. They are more excluded from informal networks, and are less confident that their voices will be heard. Women councillors are no less ambitious to progress than men – but they feel pigeonholed on the basis of their gender, and held back by the way councils operate. The evidence reveals an outdated culture which is holding local government back. It is ripe for change.

This Sourcebook was developed to provide readily available and usable gendersensitivematerials and resources to build local government capacity for sustainable, equitable and inclusive human settlements.

The general objective of this paper is to describe the position of Oxfam and ARCO on how local governance processes play a crucial role in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We believe that a common understanding and framework for local governance is urgently required to build more consistent and effective development strategies and initiatives. In particular, we aim to emphasise the importance of enabling local actors to lead and influence policy action and practices within a system of multilevel relations, in order to tackle multidimensional poverty and inequality. To achieve this end, we embrace the Sustainable Human Development approach in order to analyse local governance and policy issues in relation to the SDGs and the localization of these goals. In this respect, this paper contributes to Oxfam’s Theory of Change – based on the combination of active citizens and effective states (Green, 2012) – by integrating in both conceptual and operational terms the synergies between local action and national policies leading to social change for human “flourishing”.

This report provides a gender review of a decade and a half of World Bank infrastructure lending for 1,246 projects. The objective of this review is to assess the status of and trends in gender integration in the World Bank infrastructure portfolio, and to establish a baseline for monitoring and enhancing gender integration in line with commitments made for the 2006 Gender Action Plan.