Gender Mainstreaming in Urban Food Policies: Governance Processes and Policy Designs From Three Spanish Cities

This paper explores the integration of gender mainstreaming in urban food policies (UFPs) through three Spanish case studies: Barcelona, Valencia, and Zaragoza. While UFPs are pivotal for addressing sustainability in urban food systems, attention to gender disparities within them remains insufficient. Through analysis of policy documents and interviews, we examined how these cities integrated gender in policy design, and the governance processes that led to it. We found three approaches varying according to bottom-up or top-down processes, the actors involved, and comprehensiveness of gender integration. Challenges identified include limited local jurisdiction, lack of official guidelines, and the risk for gender mainstreaming to remain a façade. We contribute to urban food governance literature by analyzing three examples of gender integration in UFPs and by proposing a framework of analysis that can be applied in future studies. We also contribute togender mainstreaming literature highlighting the importance of tailored policy tools and of local governance.