general secretary Antonio Guterres spoke at a meeting of the UN Group of Friends on Gender Parity to mark the fifth anniversary of its strategy on gender parity – a key priority of his first term, and it remains so.
He said it was “vital for the United Nations to uphold the values it stands for – the values enshrined in the Charter – and to lead by example. Gender parity in our staff is the only way to achieve gender equality in our work.”
Solid progress
He added that, overall, we “have come a long way” and achieved some notable firsts, such as achieving parity within the senior leadership group two years ago, for the first time in the history of the United Nations.
This now also applies to heads and deputy heads of peace operations. Five years ago, the proportion of women in these roles was just 25 percent, he noted.
In 2018, parity was achieved among the 130 resident coordinators and representation of women at headquarters sites is now equal, while the number of UN entities with at least 50 percent female staff has increased from five to 26.
“remain gaps”
“At the same time, gaps remain,” he warned.
Away from headquarters, on humanitarian and peacekeeping operations, he said: “Progress has been slow and in some cases we have gone backwards. We should be particularly concerned about a decline in the number of women being recruited to entry-level secretarial positions in this field. This could have serious implications for future parity prospects.”
Secretariat staff should be nearly equal overall among “professional” grades in 2025, three years before the deadline, but this number masks the fact that it will be 2028 before there is equality in this area .
That means the overall strategy must now focus on sustaining progress in this area, he said.
talent pipeline
“We will continue to support the Senior Women Talent Pipeline, which since 2014 has resulted in the appointment of nearly 60 senior women, primarily in the field service,” and facilitate the transition of General Service personnel and national officers into the professional groups.
“And this is an area that requires General Assembly approval and I count on this group of friends to be very active in this regard as it is a key tool to bring women into professional positions in this area,” said Mr. Guterres.
The work culture also needs to evolve, he said. And when stereotypes and prejudice are left unchecked in the workplace, and sexism and racism are tolerated, “we will fail the people we serve.”
He said he was committed to taking steps to end all forms of discrimination, including sexual harassment.
room for improvement
The UN chief outlined three areas for improvement. First a focus on Gender and geographical diversity as complementary goals. “Only 36 percent of the professionals from the Africa region in the Secretariat are women, this has to change.”
Second, we will increased efforts to recruit women for field missionshe said, and third, the UN needs to redouble our policies and tools, Make employers more attractive to women.
“We will continue to work closely with Member States and civil society, particularly from the Global South, to ensure we reflect all countries and communities at all levels of our organization.”
He reiterated that gender equality was essential: “to meet the expectations of the people we serve and to build a more sustainable, just, inclusive, peaceful and prosperous world for all.”
