Local and regional government institutions are essential for women's political empowerment. They often serve as stepping stones to a national or European political career, thus impacting the gender balance at various political levels.
Nevertheless, the improvement in the proportion of female members in local governments and regional assemblies continues to be very slow. In 2019, according to the European Institute for Gender Equality's Gender Equality Index 2020, gender balance in European regional assemblies was reached in just five Member States. Women accounted for one third of members of regional assemblies in 20 Member States while, more worryingly, such assemblies in three Member States were 80% male. Between 2017 and 2019, at local/municipal councils level, hardly any change towards improvement has been registered in this context: 0.5 percentage points.
On 8 March 2021, a one-day online conference entitled "For more women in politics" will reflect on the issue of women's participation in local, regional and European politics.
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