The place do UN Member States Stand on a Feminist Secretary-Common? — World Points
NEW YORK, Feb 21 (IPS) – The number of the following UN Secretary-Common (UNSG) shall 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 position?
Casual campaigning is already underway for the place of the following UN Secretary-Common. 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 following Secretary-Common must be a girl. Then they voted for a person.
This time, civil society shouldn’t be taking good intentions at face worth, and needs concrete actions. The best option to break the 80-year previous glass ceiling is that if states commit publicly to solely contemplate 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 difficulty to their checklist of key areas for revitalizing the UN’s effectiveness, insisting, final November: “We can not 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’ except the following SG is not only a girl however a feminist.
A latest examine 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 assist for a girl SG with concrete reform proposals to deliver gender equality to the SG choice course of.
The examine relies on evaluation of Member State public statements on the UN, as an illustration on the Common Meeting in September final yr and the assembly of the Advert Hoc Committee on the Revitalization of the Work of the Common 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 gaggle 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’ assist, which suggests they’ve mentioned that the following SG must be a girl, however they haven’t outlined particular actions to extend the possibilities of this consequence. One other 124 states have proven oblique assist by saying that gender equality must be certainly one of a number of issues within the subsequent choice spherical.
Within the supply materials studied, not a single UN Member State has referred to 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 some extent of mentioning the significance of choosing a girl SG throughout the opening of the 79th Common Meeting in September.
A lone lady chief won’t be able to repair what ails the UN. To name for a feminist lady SG is to invoke the broader adjustments that the following SG should 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 Improvement Targets (SDGs).
Nevertheless, there’s a critical assault on feminist pondering and activism by autocratic populists and spiritual fundamentalists. From Challenge 2025 to the edicts of the Taliban, weaponized misogyny – or the ‘gender ideology backlash’, in addition to assaults on range, fairness and inclusion – are used to revive vintage variations of patriarchal management and remove opposition to unbridled militarization.
This makes the centering of gender equality by the primary Madam Secretary-Common 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 assist base for his or her visions. Carrying this assist by way of to the thirty eighth ground as soon as in position shall be very important, as the primary Madam Secretary-Common might want to work creatively to get issues accomplished within the present setting, reaching past Member States to attach immediately with civil society and the worldwide public.
With no highly effective mandate to guide, the primary lady SG shall 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 girl is chosen. 1 for 8 Billion has set out possible strikes to assist an inclusive and truthful course of. The Common Meeting has the possibility over the following 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 Common Meeting.
The analysis talked about above shall be obtainable on an Interactive Map monitoring UN Member States’ positions on the appointment of a feminist lady SG. This shall be launched on March fifth. GNWP’s web site to register for the occasion.
Mavic Cabrera Ballez is Founder and Chief Government Officer, World Community of Girls Peacebuilders; Ben Donaldson is Advisor, 1 for 8 Billion marketing campaign; Anne Marie Goetz is Medical 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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