On 12 February 2023, UNA-UK launched Blue Smoke, a newsletter and website shining a light on senior UN appointments and elections.

By Mavic Cabrera Balleza, Ben Donaldson and Anne Marie Goetz
NEW YORK, Feb 21 2025 (IPS)

The selection of the next UN Secretary-General (UNSG) will be a pivotal moment in global efforts to resist authoritarianism and work together to address shared problems. Where do UN Member States stand on appointing a feminist woman to this role?

Informal campaigning is already underway for the position of the next UN Secretary-General. The race will officially kick off towards the end of the year; the successful candidate will take office on 1 January 2027. A decade ago, state after state stood up and said the next Secretary-General should be a woman. Then they voted for a man.

This time, civil society is not taking good intentions at face value, and wants concrete actions. The simplest way to break the 80-year old glass ceiling is if states commit publicly to only consider nominating women candidates – hardly a challenge given the plethora of talented leaders available.

The Accountability, Coherence and Transparency (ACT) coalition of 27 countries has included this issue to their list of key areas for revitalizing the UN’s effectiveness, insisting, last November: “We cannot miss the transformative opportunity to appoint the UN’s first woman SG.”

Civil society groups such as the 1 for 8 Billion coalition and the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP) point out that the appointment won’t be ‘transformative’ unless the next SG is not just a woman but a feminist.

A recent study by the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders, 1 for 8 Billion, and students at the Center for Global Affairs, School of Professional Studies, New York University, showed that only three UN Member States – Costa Rica, Spain and Slovenia – have backed up their emphatic support for a woman SG with concrete reform proposals to bring gender equality to the SG selection process.

The study is based on analysis of Member State public statements at the UN, for instance at the General Assembly in September last year and the meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Revitalization of the Work of the General Assembly last November.

Beyond individual country positions, the research analyzed joint statements by collectivities such as the Non-Aligned Movement, the ACT group, the European Union, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and a group of 78 states coordinated by Mexico, Slovenia and Spain on the representation of women at UN leadership. Statements are assessed as ‘Very Strong’, ‘Strong’, ‘Indirect/Implied’, or ‘Opposed’.

Fifty states have indicated ‘Strong’ support, which means they have said that the next SG should be a woman, but they have not outlined specific actions to increase the chances of this outcome. Another 124 states have shown indirect support by saying that gender equality should be one of several considerations in the next selection round.

In the source material studied, not a single UN Member State has called explicitly for a feminist woman SG. Of the 15 countries that align with ‘feminist foreign policy’, only 5 – Canada, Chile, Spain, Slovenia and Germany – made a point of mentioning the importance of selecting a woman SG during the opening of the 79th General Assembly in September.

A lone woman leader will not be able to fix what ails the UN. To call for a feminist woman SG is to invoke the broader changes that the next SG must be empowered by Member States and work together to undertake. Gender equality has been proven to be an accelerator of all UN priorities, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

However, there is a serious attack on feminist thinking and activism by autocratic populists and religious fundamentalists. From Project 2025 to the edicts of the Taliban, weaponized misogyny – or the ‘gender ideology backlash’, as well as attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion – are used to revive antique versions of patriarchal control and eliminate opposition to unbridled militarization.

This makes the centering of gender equality by the first Madam Secretary-General imperative both substantively and symbolically.

Beyond calling for feminist women candidates with reform agendas, there are calls for an open selection process to enable candidates to build a broad support base for their visions. Carrying this support through to the 38th floor once in role will be vital, as the first Madam Secretary-General will need to work creatively to get things done in the current environment, reaching beyond Member States to connect directly with civil society and the global public.

Without a powerful mandate to lead, the first woman SG will be set up for failure, appointed to the edge of a glass cliff as polarization in geopolitics splinters the organization.

Doors are closing fast to opportunities to democratize the selection process and to ensure that a woman is selected. 1 for 8 Billion has set out feasible moves to support an inclusive and fair process. The General Assembly has the chance over the next few months to implement this agenda, when all states get a platform to publicly comment on the SG selection process at the meeting of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Revitalization of the General Assembly.

The research mentioned above will be available on an Interactive Map tracking UN Member States’ positions on the appointment of a feminist woman SG. This will be launched on March 5th. GNWP’s website to register for the event.

Mavic Cabrera Ballez is Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Global Network of Women Peacebuilders; Ben Donaldson is Advisor, 1 for 8 Billion campaign; Anne Marie Goetz is Clinical Professor, Center for Global Affairs, School of Professional Studies, New York University

Source: UN Association of the UK

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