United Nations, explained.
Candidates for the position of Secretary-General responding to questions on key challenges for the United Nations in a televised debate in July (Eskinder Debebe/UN Photo)
A record field of women is vying to be the next Secretary-General, testing whether the UN practises what it preaches.
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Glass ceiling or glass cliff: The race for the UN’s top jobGlass ceiling or glass cliff: The race for the UN’s top job
In its 80 years of existence, the United Nations has appointed nine men as Secretaries-General, a job famously described (Opens in new window) as the “most impossible job in the world”. The current Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres of Portugal, will complete his second term at the end of this year, after steering his organisation through the Covid-19 pandemic, two terms of the Trump presidency, escalating conflicts, and a crisis of faith in multilateralism.
Five out of the eight declared candidates (Opens in new window) for the job are women. Alongside geopolitical challenges, the next UN chief will inherit a mission (Opens in new window) that Guterres started last year to reform the organisation – to make it more responsive to changing global needs, and more accountable to taxpayers. In short, ensure that it is less moribund and bureaucratic.
Given the extent of the challenge – one might say the impossible job squared – the race to appoint the new Secretary-General is fast becoming the most talked-about subject in diplomacy.
There is another sharp angle to this debate. The UN, despite being the global standard-bearer for gender equality, equal rights and opportunities, has not lived up to its own ideals by appointing a woman for the top job, revealing the gap between rhetoric and practice. The clamour to break the highest glass ceiling in the UN has been growing since the last selection process of 2015–16, when seven out of 13 candidates were women, backed by civil society alliances and UN General Assembly members. During the previous seven elections, all candidates were men.
Arguments are based not simply on the need to correct a historic imbalance, but to expand the pool of leaders that can guide the UN through its multiple challenges.
This year, with push for a woman to lead the organisation (Opens in new window) getting stronger, both the presidents of the Security Council and of the General Assembly exhorted member states to “strongly consider nominating women as candidates”. Coalitions such as GWL Voices (Opens in new window) have initiated the “Madam Secretary-General” campaign, but they have been restrained in their wording, considering the ongoing global backlash (Opens in new window) against gender equality and action. Their arguments are based not simply on the need to correct a historic imbalance, but to expand the pool of leaders that can guide the UN through its multiple challenges, and as a means to reinforce the UN’s credibility and its ability to advocate for equality.
The multilateral system, spearheaded by the UN, has delivered (Opens in new window) global agreements, treaties and conventions on gender equality, and is considered essential for making meaningful progress in eliminating gender inequality globally. However, meaningful participation has been lagging. The latest Women in Multilateralism Report (Opens in new window) shows that women currently lead 46% of multilateral organisations, but remain well below parity in governing bodies and among UN Permanent Representatives, where they account for 23%. As of late last year, a total of 145 countries (Opens in new window) have raised concerns about the lack of gender balance in the UN’s leadership.
A total of 145 countries have raised concerns about the lack of gender balance in the UN’s leadership (Manuel Elías/UN Photo)
The UN website describes (Opens in new window) the role of the Secretary-General as “equal parts diplomat and advocate, civil servant, and CEO.” The candidate selection process, length of tenure, and qualifications, are open to interpretation, with almost nothing specified in the UN Charter (Opens in new window). While the responsibilities of the SG may include prosaic work like overseeing peacekeeping missions, making appointments to UN posts, and coordinating UN responses to global emergencies, the chief role is that of “world moderator (Opens in new window),” as described by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Which is just one way of framing the central dilemma (Opens in new window) of the job: to please everybody, from the most powerful countries and down the pecking order.
The selection process for the UN top job is highly opaque and held hostage by the veto power of permanent Security Council members. Two women have emerged as frontrunners in the last round (Opens in new window) of “straw polls” or informal ballots – Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, an Indigenous woman and former foreign minister of Guyana, and Rebeca Grynspan, former vice president of Costa Rica and head of UN Trade and Development. Rafael Grossi, an Argentinian diplomat and head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, is the only man among the top contenders. All three represent Latin America and the Caribbean, which is where the next Secretary-General is expected to be from as the post informally rotates between the UN’s five regional groups.
The selection process is taking place at a time when Security Council interactions have been more polarised and transactional than usual. It is anticipated (Opens in new window) that the United States and Russia could potentially block the appointment of a woman, with their stated opposition to selection based on gender. Potential candidates are expected to work around this by broadening their agenda on strengthening the UN and promoting global stability and peace, rather than promoting gender equality.
Within UN corridors and country offices, there is one more theory doing the rounds: the Glass Cliff (Opens in new window) theory, women are elevated to leadership during times of crisis or institutional decline, when the risk of failure is highest and they can be blamed if it comes to that. The next person to take on the most impossible job in the world will need to demonstrate the ability to rise above this moment, all while steering the world towards lasting peace and sustainable prosperity.
About the author
Sunaina Kumar
Sunaina Kumar is Director and Senior Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation in Delhi and focuses on development and gender policy.
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