Mayoress

Promoting women in local leadership


"Mayoress - Promoting Women in Local Leadership" is an EU-funded project to support female mayors in Germany, France, Austria and Poland. Currently, around 85% of all town halls in Europe are run by men. Mayoress offers female mayors networks, exchange of experience and mentoring.

Project description

Project partners:


Project period:


Project modules :




Austrian Association of Municipalities, Instytut Spraw Publicznych - Institute of Public Affairs, Association des maires ruraux de France, élues locales, Association of German Cities

2019 – 2021


Networking activities for mayoral candidates and mayors In North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein


Empowerment measures for female mayors are being developed and tested; in addition, peer mentoring for female applicants is offered in NRW. The partner organisations will support these activities.

European Mayoress Campus

In particular, the European Mayoress Campus will promote the personal exchange of ideas and experience as well as political cooperation between women in local administrations in the participating countries and contribute to the establishment of sustainable networks. 

Expert* Forum

In addition to the partner countries, other carefully selected experts* from various European countries and the European Commission will participate in a forum, which will bring together experts from the fields of science/research, politics and public administration.