We speak with Women Transforming Cities (WTC) about why cities like Vancouver need to be reshaped around diverse gendered needs, and how we can achieve this.
Transport systems, housing, public spaces and other everyday infrastructures are instrumental to accessing education, employment, health and social services.
Yet, from bike lane routing to bus timetabling, playground design to street lighting schedules, there is growing recognition of the gendered biases built into our urban infrastructure, and the disempowering impacts of our failure to design cities for, and with, women and other equity seeking genders.
In Vancouver, Women Transforming Cities (WTC), a network and advocacy group seeking to advance the civic skills and power of those who have been historically excluded from local government processes is pursuing a shift in how the city is built and who is engaged in decision making processes.
We caught up with them to find out more about what a feminist approach to the city looks like and how they are striving to deploy civic engagement, democratic participation, and local advocacy in the pursuit of equality.
When were you founded and why?
WTC Founder Ellen Woodsworth served as a City of Vancouver Councillor from 2008–2011. After her term on council, Ellen felt that much more could be done in Vancouver to make the city safer for women and girls. Ellen, along with a group of feminist organizers and urbanists, founded WTC in 2011 to continue to push for intersectional feminist policies in local government.
From 2011–2019, WTC focused on monthly dialogue cafes, workshops advancing equity and inclusion, speaking at international conferences, and research partnerships. Since 2020, we’ve become known for our work on local government and civic issues for women and equity-deserving genders from an intersectional feminist lens.
What is/are your primary mission(s)?
We want to see cities that work for women, girls, two-spirit, trans, non-binary, and all equity-deserving genders so that everyone can belong, participate, and thrive.
We radically shift social, economic, and political power to equity-deserving groups in order to reshape who cities are built by and for. We do this work on a municipal level, because in the pursuit of gender, racial, and social equity, city government is an often overlooked yet important site of resistance and action to meet the needs of communities.
You can learn more by taking a look at our Theory of Change!
What are the main challenges facing cities when it comes to the inclusion of women and other equity deserving genders in urban policy? And what might be unique/specific to Vancouver?
A systematic barrier facing cities is that equity-deserving communities are often discouraged and disincentivized from engaging in civic processes like participating in council meetings or advisory committees to voting and running in municipal elections. WTC addresses this inequity by increasing civic literacy among historically underrepresented communities, and working with municipalities to address barriers to engagement.
A unique challenge facing Vancouver is that the current city council has considerable ground to cover if they are to meet their equity commitments that they agreed to implement during their election campaigns.
Our Hot Pink Paper Campaign lists 8 policy asks for equity-deserving communities including affordable housing, heatwave protection to transit. We published our 2-year accountability report to track council’s progress halfway through their term, and while they’ve made some progress, they’ve also taken major steps backward on reducing barriers to non-market housing, and funding climate emergency responses.
Your 2024 report states that “Local governments are colonial systems that have been designed to exclude”, What is the approach which WTC takes to implementing/driving change? And how might it be unique?
If cities work for equity-deserving genders, they work for all of us. Currently, civic participation does not fully reflect the diversity of local communities due to barriers such as time, language, privilege, and power. Council chambers are colonial spaces that are not safe, accessible, or inclusive for many community members.
We believe equitable civic engagement and participation is essential for transformation at the local level. We also believe people are the experts in their own lives, so our approach is formed by this thinking and two-fold in nature:
On a systems level, we research to understand systemic barriers to participation, we organize around critical issues and train community members on campaigning, and we amplify voices to councils who are otherwise not heard.
On a community level, we focus on mentoring individuals who have been historically excluded from civic processes through our Watch Council program so that they can have peers, tools, and resources to figure out their role in the social justice ecosystem. We advocate with our community groups and front-line service delivery organizations to highlight their concerns to city councils. We develop resources to support engagement and demystify civic participation processes, as well as workshops in partnership with under-represented groups to build civic literacy and advocacy skills.
You also call cities “sites of resistance”. What does resistance look like for WTC?
Resistance is believing in the collective power we have when we stand in solidarity with each other to create change for our communities. It’s easy to believe that our voices don’t matter to city councillors, but it’s not true. When we organize, we build power, and we make a difference.
Our community shows us resistance in action. We speak with so many people who want to take action, but don’t always know where to start or who to talk to, and through our programs, trainings, and events, they gain experience and confidence to advocate for the issues they care about. We often say that 200 people coming together on an issue at the federal level are unlikely to be heard, but 200 people advocating to the local council can change policy.
Which partners do you work with, and how do you work with them to achieve your aims?
All of our work at WTC is part of a movement of organizations, community, and labour groups who share our vision of cities where everyone can belong, participate, and thrive. We amplify the priority issues of our partner organizations, alert them to decisions happening at a local government level that impacts their work, train and support partners to speak to council, and run workshops to build the civic and organizing skills of their staff, members, and community.
We work closely with neighbourhood houses, climate organizations, organizations that support newcomers and immigrants and labour groups. For example in 2024, we delivered 30 workshops to groups including South Vancouver Neighbourhood House, Marpole Neighbourhood House, MOSAIC, Vancouver District Labor Council, and Kickstand.
Which projects/initiatives from the last year are you most proud of, and why?
In 2024, we released the 2-Year Accountability Report for the Hot Pink Paper Campaign. We engaged with residents and community organizations to identify priority issues that shaped the Hot Pink Paper Campaign during the 2022 Vancouver election. All current city councillors, including Mayor Sim, committed to implementing our policy asks.
We continue to monitor council’s agenda and track voting records to keep the communities that shaped our policy asks in the loop on whether their elected representatives are making meaningful progress, maintaining the status quo, or moving backwards.
Our 2-Year Accountability Report is an important project because equity-deserving communities deserve accountability from elected leaders, not just commitments when it is politically convenient. Our Accountability Report is unique because we continue to show up and amplify the needs of those who are most often silenced in our community.
We are also proud of being a part of many important policy decisions, and resisting policies that would harm communities. In 2024, we raised public awareness on city motions to ban the work of the Integrity Commissioner, to dissolve civic advisory committees, and to reverse the ban of gas in new buildings, an action that would have been a step backward on climate action. We asked the community to take action by reaching out to councillors via email or phone, going to council meetings to speak, and sharing to their communities.
What is planned for 2025, and how can folks interested get involved?
The best way for folks to get involved in WTC is by becoming a member. We have a monthly webinar members can join, bi-weekly drop-in sessions to receive advice on getting involved in civic systems, and an active online community.
In 2025, we are focused on reaching more community members through our civic skill workshops, holding the City of Vancouver accountable to their commitments to equity-deserving communities, and starting to plan for the 2026 city council elections across BC. Come and join our amazing community of over 250 members!