Cities must move to the frontline of efforts to fight gender inequality that has grown worse in the coronavirus pandemic, said six mayors from three continents on Monday as they joined forces in a new network to advance women's rights.

A group of around 2,000 women staged a different kind of protest in Zurich, Switzerland which involved a mass scream to demand an end to domestic violence and demand gender equality on June 14. Photo: VCG

Around the world, women's jobs, unpaid labor, health and safety have been upended by the impacts of COVID-19 and need critical attention, said the organizers of City Hub and Network for Gender Equity.

The network aims to promote and share among city mayors around the world innovative projects focused on combating gender inequality.

"Local governments can and should lead," said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, the network's first chair, who joined the mayors of Barcelona, Freetown, Mexico City, London and Tokyo in an online webinar with the media.

Data from the World Economic Forum shows that at the current pace, the gender pay gap will not close for 257 years, he said.

"We must act with urgency," Garcetti said. "We can't allow this pandemic to set us back further."

Women's jobs have been 1.8 times more vulnerable to being lost in the pandemic than men's, said a study by consultants McKinsey & Co, while government data showed that of the 1.1 million US workers who dropped out of the labor force in September, 80 percent were women.

In Los Angeles, every city department must have a gender action plan and measure and show progress on tackling gender inequality, such as appointing women to boards and top positions, closing the gender pay gap and ensuring more girls use public spaces like sports fields, Garcetti said.

Ada Colau, the first female mayor of Barcelona who called her administration a "feminist government," singled out unpaid care work of children and aging relatives.

"We must fight against the inequality and injustice that women still suffer and end the invisibility of care work - a burden which is mostly borne by women," Colau said.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who called himself as a "proud feminist," said a report found  that in England mothers were 47 percent more likely than fathers to have lost or left their jobs in the pandemic.

With women accounting for eight out of 10 people in low-paid jobs, London's city government has invested 3 million pounds ($4 million) to "re-skill" and "up-skill" women for better-paying jobs, he said.
Newspaper headline: World city leaders carry out campaign