Expansion and reinforcement of the municipal women's care service (Ampliación y refuerzo del servicio municipal de atención a la mujer)

A small Spanish town (Cuntis, under 5,000 inhabitants) incorporated an expert equality agent into its municipal women's care service, working on direct intervention as well as the design, management, development and evaluation of equal-opportunity and gender programmes. The service targets the general population, with priority given where needed to women victims of gender violence, people with disabilities, people at risk of social exclusion, and migrants.

Promote and improve the social situation of Cuntis's citizens through the principle of equality; raise awareness about equal opportunities; provide technical advice to the local corporation on equal-opportunity policies; inform women about existing resources, especially employment and training; mainstream gender perspective into local-administration projects; promote women's economic autonomy, independence and leadership; promote women's associations; and establish inter-entity collaboration channels.

Internal council actions such as awareness-raising on staff equality and gender-perspective mainstreaming in council projects, alongside citizen-facing actions: attention to women users of the service, information provision, and the development and implementation of activities promoting equality and fighting gender violence.

The practice shows that even a small municipality can invest meaningful resources in a dedicated gender-equality service. Information and advice points are described as supporting empowerment and autonomy (economic, political and social) for women and other vulnerable groups, and equality-focused leadership is said to raise awareness and improve the quality of local services, such as conciliation services.