The disparity in confidence and trust placed in female leaders in municipalities compared to their male counterparts presents a significant impediment towards promoting women’s leadership in municipalities. This gap is manifested in various ways, including biased perceptions, limited support from the voters, and unequal treatment in professional settings that hinders their efforts to create positive change.

The working group ‘Women’s leadership in municipalities’ has identified this topic among three thematic focus topics that also include election campaigning and lobbying strategies, as well as legislative reforms of municipal election laws. The workshop held on the 25^th June aimed at 1) proposing practical ideas and mechanisms to enhance women's self-confidence to fully achieve their leadership potential, 2) investigating ways to strengthen trust between women and society with regards to assuming decision-making roles and implementing reform programs.

A keynote speech by Dr. Fadia Kiwan, director general of the Arab Women Organization, delved into methods of enhancing women’s psychological and social capabilities to assume leadership roles.
 

Eman Al-Zoubi, former member of the municipal council in Irbid (Jordan), presented a good practice example that she has championed during her served term as a municipal council member.

The project was entitled ‘school parliament’ and its long-term goal was to induce reform in the societal perception of women’s leadership capacity through the engagement of school children in the democratic practices of implementing grassroot initiatives in a participatory manner. One of the initiatives that emerged focused on citizen engagement in waste management, a pressing topic in light of the sudden increase in population due to the settlement of Syrian refugees in the area of implementation.

 

Participants have concluded that bridging the trust gap is a long-term process that requires women gaining self-confidence on the one hand. On the other hand, women need to prove their capabilities by referring to their record of successful achievements to gain the trust of their communities, which is not the case for their male counterparts.

The next thematic workshop will be held on the 23^rd July focusing on the topic of campaigning and lobbying strategies. Meanwhile, coordination meetings will continue with the participants to agree on topics for solution development.

Link to workshop recording on Connective Cities platform (in Arabic).