From quantitative existence to qualitative existence in municipal councils: Woman members of expertise commissions

Abstract

Municipalities are the most important actors of urban management and the main decision-making body of municipalities are the municipal councils. The ratio of the women members of municipal councils is important for revealing the role of women in local political decision making and this is also accepted as an indicator of gender equality. This indicator has also been handled by the United Nations and “Gender Equality” goal was included into the “Sustainable Development Goals” which was determined in 2015. The ratio of women members of the local councils was ranked as a sub-goal of “Gender Equality”. Although this ratio is an important indicator of the level of the contribution of women in local decision making, it does not explain the quality of this contribution. The issues to be discussed and resolved by the municipal councils are first discussed in the expertise commissions before. The expertise commissions have an impact on the council decisions by discussing and reporting the issues which are referred to them. Therefore, while evaluating the role of the woman in local decision making, the level of participation in the expertise commissions will be examined with the quantity of the women members in the municipal councils. In this context, the study focuses on the number and ratio of the woman members in the expertise commissions established within the municipal councils. Within the scope of the study, the number and ratio of the woman members in the mandatorily established expertise commissions of the municipal councils of Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) Level 2 will be determined. The aim of the study is to reveal the ratio of women’s participation in local decisions together with the quality of this participation.