A group of former UN leaders has warned that women’s rights are being “taken hostage” at the United Nations, with hard-fought gains eroding worldwide. GWL Voices, an advocacy group led by Irina Bokova, Helen Clark, and Susana Malcorra, called for urgent implementation of a rule to elect a woman as president of the General Assembly every other year. The group also insists the UN must elect its first female secretary general at the next vote in 2026.
At the UN’s 78th General Assembly last month, Secretary General António Guterres noted that only four women signed the founding document and that progress has been insufficient. Of the 78 presidents elected since 1946, only four have been women, and no woman has ever served as UN secretary general. The group argues that this lack of gender equality at the heart of the organisation is hindering progress for women and girls globally.
Susana Malcorra, president of GWL Voices, said gender equality has become a “political battle space” and that many rights thought secure are now under threat across the world. The group’s report reveals that women have led 33 key multilateral institutions for only 12% of the time since 1945, and 13 organisations, including the four largest development banks, have never had a female leader. Malcorra, Clark, and Bokova were contenders when Guterres was elected in 2016.
GWL Voices proposes “gender alternation” for the presidency of the General Assembly, a move backed by the presidents of Slovenia, Botswana, and Spain. María Fernanda Espinosa, a former president of the General Assembly and GWL Voices member, said the issue has become extremely contentious. “Unfortunately, women and girls have been taken hostage by these overall tensions,” she said, pointing to stalled progress on the Sustainable Development Goals and a lack of trust between member states.
