Page 48 - U4SSC Factsheet Ålesund, Norway, June 2020

its workforce tends to be male dominated and that businesses are not often recruiting or retaining highly
educated women. These are factors that must be evaluated further, in order to address the resulting
disparity between the earning (and subsequent pension) levels between women and men. The region has
identified the need to address this ongoing disparity.
Several UN agencies have programmes dedicated to understanding the continuing challenges around
gender disparity within, and due to, increasing urbanization.
Optimizing housing and social inclusion KPIs: It is recommended that aspiring SSC cities and regions such
as Ålesund engage with these programmes to see how their governments’ social and economic policies
and programmes can contribute to improved power relations between men and women, the protection
of women’s human rights and moving beyond traditional limited gender roles. It is recommended that
Ålesund follows the example of cities that have successfully engaged in such endeavours. Such cities have
conducted gender analysis of their city departments, commissions and boards, and have prioritized urban
planning that considers women and their daily lives and commitments across all areas, including transport
and safety.
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Moreover, the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and other
national plans and international conventions are helpful sources that can provide guidance in this regard. 42
Income distribution in Ålesund is more favourable than the median values among OECD countries, and when
compared with the national average of 0.26. The rate of poverty is lower in Ålesund than the national
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average. Given its relatively small population size, however, this rate should continue to be monitored and
mitigated through mechanisms such as local social services.

The voter participation rate in Ålesund is reported to be 54.66 per cent. While this rate is higher than many
cities around the world, because engaging people in decision making improves the quality and inclusiveness
of the decisions and also helps improve upon the existing laws and regulations, it is recommended that
Ålesund continues its efforts to encourage a higher participation rate. The first step should be an assessment
of why a portion of the population is not voting in municipal elections. Polling or research should be carried
out to identify which groups are voting less and the reasons why some people choose not to vote. Based
on the results obtained from the research efforts, a strategy should be formulated that looks at how best
to eliminate barriers and motivate non-voters to vote in the future. Early engagement of young people
while they are not yet of voting age, using innovative marketing to capture citizens’ interest and offering
incentives to vote, and providing ease of voting through efficient, secure voting and a higher number of
advance voting days are some of the ways the region can increase municipal voter turnover. 44
It is also recommended that the region researches active voters, in order to obtain a better understanding
of what influences them to vote. This knowledge may help generate solutions for motivating non-voters and
could be used to customize future election messaging that may encourage a higher turnout. The regional
government could partner with local academia on what would essentially be a positive deviance study to
learn which individuals or groups succeed or find successful strategies when their peers or community
members do not.
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42 U4SSC Factsheet | Ålesund, Norway | June 2020