What does a gender-equal city look like?

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May 25, 2021

Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Samoa’s prime minister-elect faces a constitutional crisis, Sonia Sotomayor dissents on a death penalty decision, and more cities are trying to create spaces and offer services that don’t discriminate. Have a good Tuesday.
– ‘Look at the whole city from the female perspective.‘ There’s a quiet revolution going on in small French municipalities. One by one, Grenoble, Rennes, Bordeaux, and Brest have adopted gendered budgets. In March, Lyon became the largest city in France so far to do so.
What is a gendered budget? Good question. According to this fascinating piece by Bloomberg, it’s a financial spending plan that takes account of public spending that may benefit men more than women and seeks to rectify the imbalance. One French city, for instance, found that it spent more on men who belonged to a sports association—22.70 euros—versus women—12.90 euros.
French cities are already rolling out changes. Rennes is introducing school yards that are free of a “dominating” space, like a soccer pitch, to promote inclusivity, and Brest launched a “stop on demand” system for its night buses so women can disembark as close to their destination as possible.
The idea of a gendered budget has been around for decades. For instance, Australia first required government ministries to report on how budgetary decisions would “impact” women in 1984.
Not all such initiatives have worked, but in terms of success stories, Vienna is a standout. Coincidentally, the BBC published a new feature on the “gender equal city” today.
Urban planning pioneer Eva Kail is credited with helping Vienna reconsider how its public spaces may favor one group over another. “It was time to look at the whole city from the female perspective,” she told the BBC.
One of Kail’s focuses was better incorporating the perspective of teenage girls into parks. That resulted in larger soccer pitches being subdivided so more groups could play and in additional seating areas, like hammocks. Plus, Kail says, “It may sound trivial, but having public toilets in parks is also important for many park users.”
Such tweaks may seem minimal, and that’s the point. When “gender equal” urban design is done well, Kail says, “it is invisible.”
“A well-functioning public space, where no group is missing or struggling to use it, doesn’t stand out.”
Claire Zillman
claire.zillman@fortune.com
@clairezillman
The Broadsheet, Fortune’s newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women, is coauthored by Kristen Bellstrom, Emma Hinchliffe, and Claire Zillman. Today’s edition was curated by Emma Hinchliffe.

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