Time for a woman at the UN?
Jessica Neuwirth, in her discerning commentary “UN Secretary General—Time for a Woman”, notes that no woman has served as secretary general in the 61 years since the United Nations was founded, and, to date, none has emerged as a leading candidate.
More than a decade after the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing called for “mechanisms to nominate women candidates for appointment to senior posts in the United Nations,” no such mechanism is in place for the most senior post and only 16 percent of undersecretaries general are women.
Neuwirth affirms that women qualified for the post abound – the Security Council need only look for them. Taking on the search, Neuwirth finds them and shares them in her commentary. A range of woman, indeed qualified.
Among them is Leticia Shahani former president of the Philippine Senate, a former UN assistant secretary general, and in her younger days, Executive Committee member for the World YWCA (1975 to 1979).
