Gathering global data on women’s representation in local government is a challenging process, partly because decentralization processes are different in each country and, considering the wide diversity of governance structures at the subnational level, there is not a common understanding of what level of government constitutes local government. Until recently, a standardized system to collect information on women in local governments has been missing. However, UN Women has developed the methodology and is currently collecting data to measure the global proportion of seats held by women in local government as the custodian agency for SDG indicator 5.5.1b to monitor progress towards achieving SDG target 5.5, “ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life.”[1]