Campaign for a Woman UN Secretary-General
FAWCO supports the Campaign for a Woman UN Secretary General. At the Interim Meeting in March, over 60 FAWCO women signed a petition calling for the next UN SG to be a woman. We passed the petitions on to the Campaign's Chair to demonstrate our commitment to this important cause. After 70 years of the UN with 8 male SGs, now is the time. Read more about it in Erica Higbie's article The Ultimate in Political Empowerment for Women, and from Open Democracy, Madam Secretary General?
In these historic times at the UN, the President of the General Assembly (PGA) has organized “informal briefings” with the eight current candidates for the post of Secretary General – including four women. PGA Mogens Lykketoft of Denmark said, "For the first time since this organization started 70 years ago, the process for selecting and appointing the next secretary-general is being guided by the principles of transparency and inclusivity." The briefings have been webcast live on UN Web TV and are available to view on demand. The website of the UN PGA has links to interesting background information on the selection process, as well as bios and vision statements of each of the candidates.