Public service Conference of women mayors wants more women in local politics
Municipal leaders from Switzerland, Germany and Austria met in Schaffhausen for the third International Conference of Women Mayors. The focus was on getting more women interested in local politics.
21.06.2024, 15:00
SDA
The municipal associations made recommendations for action to increase the political involvement of women in municipal authorities. This was announced on Friday by the Swiss Association of Municipalities, the German Association of Towns and Municipalities, the Austrian Association of Municipalities and the European Academy for Women in Politics and Business.
The recommendations include promoting the networking of women who already hold political office, strengthening the role model function and public visibility of female local politicians, raising awareness of local politics for more gender equality and promoting mentoring programs. The framework conditions for reconciling family, career and politics should also be improved.
"The more women get involved in local politics, the more diverse the militia system becomes and the stronger Switzerland becomes," said Federal Councillor Karin Keller-Sutter (FDP) in a speech. The two-day conference with 60 municipal leaders, which started on Thursday, was also attended by the "First Ladies" from Germany, Elke Büdenbender, and Austria, Doris Schmidhauer, among others.
In Switzerland, just under 16 percent of all municipal presidencies are held by women. In Germany and Austria, the figure is one tenth.
