Among city mayors, gender parity is far off, but cities are safer when women lead 

Urban expansion is occurring at an unprecedented speed. For all residents to benefit equally, stronger investment is needed in inclusive housing, resilient infrastructure, and safe, green and open public spaces. Yet globally, 1.16 billion people, live in slums or informal settlements, with women and girls over-represented. As cities boom, access to public space is declining; from 2020 to 2025, in 414 cities across 126 countries, the share of the population with convenient access to open public spaces fell from 48.0 to 45.9 per cent. Public space is not simply an amenity for women and girls but is a fundamental right. Its erosion narrows the conditions under which women may participate in city life, and concentrates their exposure to gender-based violence.

Data on women mayors are not consistently available, but in Latin America and the Caribbean,the share of female mayors is around half the share of women in local deliberative bodies (16.6 per cent compared to 32.6 per cent). A similar pattern exists in the European Union (18.9 per cent compared to 34.9 per cent in 2025). Despite continued underrepresentation, evidence suggests that women in local leadership often place greater emphasis on policies that promote social inclusion, gender equality and public safety. In the United States, electing female mayors is associated with a 6 per cent increase in the likelihood of police arresting perpetrators of violence against women and a roughly 13 percentage-point increase in female victims reporting crimes. Similar evidence from Chile suggests that women mayors have improved the reporting of crimes against women by prioritizing gender-based violence in policy proposals and directing additional resources to community organizations[1],[2]. Beyond mayors, evidence from Cairo, Egypt shows that participation of women’s rights organizations in a gender responsive bus rapid transit system made the public transport system more responsive to the safety needs of women and girls. Accelerating progress towards SDG 11 therefore requires investments in adequate housing, public spaces and resilient urban infrastructure, alongside addressing sexual harassment in public spaces and greater gender equality in local leadership and decision-making.