Established in 2006 by the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR), the European Charter for Equality enables Europe's local and regional authorities to achieve greater equality at the local level. Therefore, local authorities publicly and formally undertake to respect the principle of gender equality and to implement the commitments enshrined therein within their territories.

In particular, the Charter recognizes equality between women and men as a fundamental right. To be fully realized, this right must not only be legally recognized, but must also be effectively exercised in all aspects of life: political, economic, social and cultural.

On December 2022, an updated version of the Charter was adopted by the CEMR which includes 9 more articles on various topics such as :

- Sustainable development ;

- Cyber-violence ;

- Violence against female elected representatives and staff of local authorities ;

- Intersectionality ;

- Flexibilization of working life ;

- Digital inclusion ;

- Sexual and reproductive health rights ;

- Climate change ;

- Emergency response.

Strongly committed to this issue, Lille Metropole is implementing the Charter at the local level via an action plan that is regularly updated. The first local plan was adopted in 2016 and Lille Metropole is currently working on a plan for 2024 until 2026, which will include the new updates of the Charter.