Compostela Equality Diagnosis

January 1, 2016
by: Cidadania Sociedade Cooperativa Galega

The diagnosis on gender inequalities in Compostela wants to be the frame for the municipal actions towards the development of equality policies between women and men. It also is the work basis which will help to define a future planning tool for the municipal action on gender topics.

Strategic reflection and the participatory dimension in the identification of problems and needs of women were crucial in the design process of the diagnosis . The following objectives were formulated:

  1. Increasing the analysing capacity of the different views: from the people responsible for the design of public municipal policies and from the social bodies as dynamising agents and creators of dynamics in the population.
  2. Increasing the involvement of municipal staff, bodies and citizens.
  3. Activating the knowledge and abilities of the social base.

In this context and with the aim of gathering the maximum amount of information, a process, open and participatory to society and different social agents, was designed. We tried to achieve the highest possible heterogeneity of informants in order to obtain a wide vision of the situation in Compostela. To reach this objective quantitative and qualitative methods were taken into account. Starting from the obtained information, the double intention of the diagnosis was analysed: on the one hand, to show the current situation and on the other hand, to detect existing tendencies of change with the aim of guiding future public municipal policies in the field of equality. It is important to point out that an equality diagnosis is a basic tool, an instrument which helps to identify needs and to design actions meant to overcome persistent inequalities between women and men.  Building a frame in which we can recognize fields of improvement and ways of intervention in different areas. Last, understanding that it as a process in which we count on a wide collaboration, we want to thank various agents for their involvement. These agents participated directly or indirectly in providing information, in the interviews, in the workshops or in the meetings with women. The areas of study are related to demography, employment, welfare, social participation, gender violence, conciliation and joint responsibility, leisure and free time as well as the presence of women in the local administration.