Global ViewsGender Equality

Opinion: It's time to adopt 'gender alternation' at UN General Assembly

By Susana Malcorra // 08 June 2023

The empty dais at the United Nations General Assembly Hall at the headquarters in New York. Photo by: Mark Garten / U.N. Photo

The annual election of the president of the United Nations General Assembly is a fitting occasion to check in on the U.N.’s progress toward achieving its gender equality goals.

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Last week, the U.N. elected Dennis Francis from Trinidad and Tobago to preside over the 78th General Assembly. He is an experienced diplomat and there should be no doubt that he will perform his duties well. But in choosing another man for this post, the assembly has once again perpetuated an inexcusable tradition.

Since 1946, out of the 78 presidents elected, a mere four have been women, all from the global south. In the early years, the assembly might have justified this gender imbalance due to prevalent structural sexism worldwide.

Such justifications no longer hold water. It is widely recognized that countless highly qualified women stand ready to assume these responsibilities. Gender equality has garnered support from an overwhelming majority of U.N. member countries, with a commitment to achieving gender parity visible in parliaments, corporate boards, government ministries, and academic institutions' leadership.

Regrettably, when it comes to the leadership of international institutions, governments fall conspicuously short of aligning with the preferences of their own societies. Currently, only 24% of permanent representatives to the U.N. are women — a bias that permeates throughout the international organizations constituting its system.

Earlier this year, our advocacy group conducted a comprehensive study mapping gender representation in the world's 33 most influential multilateral organizations. The findings revealed that women have held, on average, only 12% of top leadership positions in these institutions since 1945.

Despite the existence of the 77-year-old U.N. Commission on the Status of Women, which identifies itself as the principal global policymaking body dedicated to gender equality, only a third of these organizations are currently headed by women.

Shockingly, 13 organizations, including all four of the world's largest development banks, have never been led by a woman, and five organizations have elected a female president only once throughout their history. I should recognize that since our report came out the International Organization for Migration has appointed a woman at its helm.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres deserves credit for forcefully stating that this situation is unacceptable. In 2017, he launched a gender parity strategy that laid out clear targets to achieve parity in the U.N. system's senior leadership and middle management by 2028. The strategy is working, with many organizations reaching parity ahead of schedule.

But Guterres obviously cannot control the appointments or votes that governments make for the most senior leadership positions or for the governing boards of bodies in the U.N. system and other international organizations.

Here, the actual gender priorities of each government are exposed for all to see.

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To change this, ordinary citizens in each U.N. member country must demand that their governments nominate qualified women candidates and representatives to international organizations. In the lead-up to the last election of the U.N. secretary-general in 2016, some 750 civil society organizations around the world signed statements in support of a more transparent process that would include qualified women candidates.

As a result, an unprecedented seven of the 13 official candidates for the post were women. Guterres ultimately won the vote, but these grassroots efforts established a new baseline for balanced elections. Now, just as voters have grown to expect gender-balanced cabinets from their heads of state, they should demand gender-balanced lists of representatives and candidates to multilateral bodies.

Governments that already prioritize gender equity could accelerate this movement by proposing a modest rule change at the U.N. Since 1963, as a means of ensuring geographic diversity in its presidency, the General Assembly has rotated among the five regional country groups each year. Now, to ensure gender diversity, UNGA should agree to rotate the gender of its president each year. Any member state could propose this through a resolution for adoption by UNGA.

Ensuring that a female leader heads the work of the General Assembly every other year would send a powerful and visible signal of the U.N.'s commitment to practicing what it preaches. It would also increase the likelihood of governments putting forward female candidates for leadership positions in other U.N. bodies.

We cannot ignore the reality that the U.N. system, like institutions in general, is facing increasing public skepticism. The so-called crisis of multilateralism has multiple causes, but it often stems from leadership traditions that contradict the U.N.'s own principles and the values of the societies these bodies aim to serve.

Implementing gender alternation in the U.N. General Assembly presidency may be a small step, but it could significantly contribute to restoring the credibility and legitimacy the U.N. system requires to continue its vital work of brokering joint solutions to the world's most pressing problems.

The views in this opinion piece do not necessarily reflect Devex's editorial views.

About the author

Susana Malcorra

Susana Malcorra is the president and co-founder of GWL Voices for Change and Inclusion. She served as minister of foreign affairs and worship of Argentina from 2015 to 2017, and she was chief of staff to former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon from 2012 to 2015.