Female mayors make Asian cities nicer: UN
Female mayors make Asian cities nicer: UN
BANGKOK (AFP): Cities in the Asia Pacific region would be cleaner, healthier and friendlier places to live if women had a bigger role in running local governments, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP) executive secretary Kim Hak-Su said women decision- makers brought forward fresh perspectives and redefined political priorities.
Kim awarded seven women mayors and councillors from China, India, Indonesia, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines and Thailand for helping to smash the gender barrier in local politics.
The awards were given at the first Asia Pacific Summit of Women Mayors and Councillors hosted by Thailand's longest-serving woman mayor, Premrudee Charmpoonod, in the northern Thai city of Phitsanulok.
Although municipal stewardship by women made for better places to live, there are few places in the region where they have been given a chance to lead.
"Nowhere in the region are women equally represented in local government," Kim said in a statement.
In Asia Pacific countries where equal representation is not mandated by quotas, women make up between 10 and 15 percent of elected local government officials in the region, the UN said.
The conference from June 19 to 22 is intended to significantly increase the number of women in local government, with follow-up activities in selected countries to push for change, Kim added.
Two Thai women who have made strides in government said women had to cope with more interference than men in similar positions.
"Initially I did face some resistance when I began my political career," said Phitsanulok Mayor Premrudee. "However, now people look at me as a human being doing a public service for the good of all."
Another successful Thai woman politician, Krasae Chanawongse, minister to the prime minister's office, said "women in local government are the real fighters. You have to encounter more pressure and obstacles than men in the same position."
Some 250 people from 24 countries, including current and former women ministers and members of parliament, are taking part in the UN summit organized by UN-ESCAP and other agencies.