Enabling environments for inclusive leadership

Local governments have a responsibility to create empowering and supportive spaces where women can thrive as leaders and decision makers.

CanWILL provided 18 grants to municipalities and their community partners to promote and increase equitable participation in electoral and civic processes.

This case study highlights five actions that worked to address structural barriers to inclusive municipal leadership. These include:

1. Empowerment through steering committees
2. Institutional assessments
3. Building professional networks
4. Re-imagining leadership
5. Investing in more inclusive environments

Find out more to create enabling environments for diverse and inclusive leadership in your municipality.

“Women might be running now, but how can they thrive and succeed in this environment when it is not set up for them to be their authentic selves? We need mechanisms to change the old ways of doing things.

This kind of change requires the individual will of those empowered to make the change coupled with process and behavioural support at the institutional level."

– Femmocracy Now team in Moncton, NB