NEW YORK, Feb 21 (IPS) – The number of the subsequent UN Secretary-Normal (UNSG) might be a pivotal second in international efforts to withstand authoritarianism and work collectively to handle shared issues. The place do UN Member States stand on appointing a feminist lady to this function?
Casual campaigning is already underway for the place of the subsequent UN Secretary-Normal. The race will formally kick off in the direction of the tip of the yr; the profitable candidate will take workplace on 1 January 2027. A decade in the past, state after state stood up and mentioned the subsequent Secretary-Normal must be a lady. Then they voted for a person.
This time, civil society just isn’t taking good intentions at face worth, and desires concrete actions. The only technique to break the 80-year outdated glass ceiling is that if states commit publicly to solely think about nominating girls candidates – hardly a problem given the plethora of gifted leaders obtainable.
The Accountability, Coherence and Transparency (ACT) coalition of 27 international locations has included this situation to their record of key areas for revitalizing the UN’s effectiveness, insisting, final November: “We can’t miss the transformative alternative to nominate the UN’s first lady SG.”
Civil society teams such because the 1 for 8 Billion coalition and the World Community of Girls Peacebuilders (GNWP) level out that the appointment gained’t be ‘transformative’ until the subsequent SG is not only a lady however a feminist.
A latest research by the World Community of Girls Peacebuilders, 1 for 8 Billion, and college students on the Heart for World Affairs, Faculty of Skilled Research, New York College, confirmed that solely three UN Member States – Costa Rica, Spain and Slovenia – have backed up their emphatic help for a girl SG with concrete reform proposals to deliver gender equality to the SG choice course of.
The research relies on evaluation of Member State public statements on the UN, as an example on the Normal Meeting in September final yr and the assembly of the Advert Hoc Committee on the Revitalization of the Work of the Normal Meeting final November.
Past particular person nation positions, the analysis analyzed joint statements by collectivities such because the Non-Aligned Motion, the ACT group, the European Union, the Affiliation of Southeast Asian Nations, and a bunch of 78 states coordinated by Mexico, Slovenia and Spain on the illustration of girls at UN management. Statements are assessed as ‘Very Sturdy’, ‘Sturdy’, ‘Oblique/Implied’, or ‘Opposed’.
Fifty states have indicated ‘Sturdy’ help, which suggests they’ve mentioned that the subsequent SG must be a lady, however they haven’t outlined particular actions to extend the possibilities of this final result. One other 124 states have proven oblique help by saying that gender equality must be one in all a number of concerns within the subsequent choice spherical.
Within the supply materials studied, not a single UN Member State has known as explicitly for a feminist lady SG. Of the 15 international locations that align with ‘feminist international coverage’, solely 5 – Canada, Chile, Spain, Slovenia and Germany – made a degree of mentioning the significance of choosing a lady SG throughout the opening of the 79th Normal Meeting in September.
A lone lady chief will be unable to repair what ails the UN. To name for a feminist lady SG is to invoke the broader adjustments that the subsequent SG have to be empowered by Member States and work collectively to undertake. Gender equality has been confirmed to be an accelerator of all UN priorities, together with the Sustainable Growth Objectives (SDGs).
Nonetheless, there’s a critical assault on feminist considering and activism by autocratic populists and spiritual fundamentalists. From Venture 2025 to the edicts of the Taliban, weaponized misogyny – or the ‘gender ideology backlash’, in addition to assaults on variety, fairness and inclusion – are used to revive vintage variations of patriarchal management and eradicate opposition to unbridled militarization.
This makes the centering of gender equality by the primary Madam Secretary-Normal crucial each substantively and symbolically.
Past calling for feminist girls candidates with reform agendas, there are requires an open choice course of to allow candidates to construct a broad help base for his or her visions. Carrying this help by to the thirty eighth flooring as soon as in function might be very important, as the primary Madam Secretary-Normal might want to work creatively to get issues completed within the present surroundings, reaching past Member States to attach instantly with civil society and the worldwide public.
And not using a highly effective mandate to steer, the primary lady SG might be arrange for failure, appointed to the sting of a glass cliff as polarization in geopolitics splinters the group.
Doorways are closing quick to alternatives to democratize the choice course of and to make sure that a lady is chosen. 1 for 8 Billion has set out possible strikes to help an inclusive and truthful course of. The Normal Meeting has the possibility over the subsequent few months to implement this agenda, when all states get a platform to publicly touch upon the SG choice course of on the assembly of the Advert Hoc Working Group on the Revitalization of the Normal Meeting.
The analysis talked about above might be obtainable on an Interactive Map monitoring UN Member States’ positions on the appointment of a feminist lady SG. This might be launched on March fifth. GNWP’s web site to register for the occasion.
Mavic Cabrera Ballez is Founder and Chief Govt Officer, World Community of Girls Peacebuilders; Ben Donaldson is Advisor, 1 for 8 Billion marketing campaign; Anne Marie Goetz is Scientific Professor, Heart for World Affairs, Faculty of Skilled Research, New York College
Supply: UN Affiliation of the UK
IPS UN Bureau
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