Llamented Ruth Bader Ginsburg [1933-2020]a constitutional justice of the US Supreme Court, once said: “Women have their place in all places where decisions are made. Women should not be the exception. »
Since Sirimavo Bandaranaike became Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) in 1960, countless other women have followed in her footsteps as heads of state and government, from Indira Gandhi in India to Margaret Thatcher in the United Kingdom. United, through Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in Liberia and Claudia Sheinbaum in Mexico.
However, in almost eighty years of history, the United Nations has never had a woman secretary general. And this, while women and girls are hit harder than men by poverty, conflict and climate change, and the fight for gender equality is in decline in many parts of the world, it is whether it concerns reproductive rights, attacks on girls’ education or equal opportunities at work.
In 2016, there were concerted efforts by many stakeholders to elect a woman as head of the United Nations. A number of excellent candidates were put forward, including Irina Bokova, Helen Clark, Susana Malcorra and others, but ultimately a man was elected.
New generation of leaders
This time must be different. Since 2016, we have seen women rise to leadership positions at a number of major international organizations across the United Nations system and beyond, from Amy Pope at the International Organization for Migration, of Inger Andersen at the United Nations Environment Program, of Catherine Russell at Unicef, of Cindy McCain at the World Food Program, of Rebeca Grynspan at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at the World Trade Organization or Sania Nishtar at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. We have also seen a new generation of women leaders emerge at the national level, as president, prime minister, foreign minister and others.
The UN Futures Summit in September gave us reason for hope and demonstrated renewed support for the reform and reboot of our multilateral system, at a time when the world is particularly polarized and prone to conflict and instability. The natural next step is a new type of leadership at the top, to revive the Sustainable Development Goals (80% of which are behind schedule) and bring conflicting countries back to the negotiating table to tackle tomorrow’s challenges.
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