On March 31, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), the International Observatory of Participatory Democracy (IOPD) and the city of Rio de Janeiro organized a virtual session on Municipal Feminism: Gender and Participation.

UCLG Secretary General Emilia Saiz and Rio de Janeiro Women's Secretary Joyce Trindade opened the session. Joyce Trindade stressed that it is time to put feminism at the center of the discussions on democracy and invited the attendees to participate in the IOPD Conference to be held in Rio de Janeiro.

"Equality can't be achieved without empowered women and girls in all their diversity, and without a shift in paradigm, linked to a new type of leadership, a feminist leadership of men and women, a leadership that is closer to the citizens, with a global perspective, and a leadership that acknowledges the common goods as the center of policies. This is what the municipal movement is about." Emilia Saiz, UCLG Secretary General

The session was divided into two panels. In first panel on Gender equity in public policies and leadership the speakers were: Diana Marcela Ortiz, Manager of Women and Gender, Instituto Distrital de Participación y Acción Comunal (IDPAC) of Bogota; Anthony Berthelot, Councilman of Nantes Metropole, responsible for international cooperation, Mayor of Indre; Maria Helena Jose Carreia Langa, Mayor of Mandlakazi, Mozambique and Vice-President of REFELA; Iryna Yarmolenko, Advisor to the Mayor of Irpin, Councilor of Bucha; Noraini Roslan, President of the Municipal Council of Klang and of Laura Pfister, Deputy mayor for Equal Rights and Fight against Discrimination, Grenoble.

In the second panel: Best Practices towards Local Feminist Participatory Democracies, the speakers were: Heloisa Gomes Aquino, Coordination of Policies for Women, São Paulo City Council and Luan Santos Araújo, Coordination of Open Government, São Paulo City Council; Gladys Otae Addo Osei, Municipal Assembly of Adentan, President of Ghana Women Caucus (REFELA); Louise Jean-Albert, Institute for Dialogue and Citizen Participation (ICPC) of France; Zenaida Pérez Gutiérrez, National Political Assembly of Indigenous Women (ANPMI) of Oaxaca, Mexico; Anders Nordh, Governance Officer of the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR); and Yande Kalengo, Director of Power Shifting, Restless Development.

More than 150 people participated in the session, which is part of the preparatory actions for the IOPD 2023 Rio de Janeiro Conference.