In the 60 years since the United Nations was founded it has never once had a woman as its Secretary-General.  The UN's failure to elect a female leader is clearly not due to a lack of qualified women candidates - there have been many from all regions of the world.  2006 is an election year at the United Nations and it is time for the Security Council members to choose a woman to lead this important international body. 

Join us and Equality Now in calling for a female UN Secretary-General in 2006 by filling out the form below to contact the members of the Security Council to urge them to nominate one of the many highly qualified female candidates.

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

I'm writing to thank you for electing Sheika Haya to serve as General Assembly Leader. I feel confident that her excellent experience and her perspective as a Middle Easterner and as a woman will both be very positive assets to the organization.

I'd like to encourage you to take another step towards supporting women's equality and advancing the status of women worldwide by nominating one of the many highly qualified women candidates for the post of Secretary-General this year.

In the 60 years since its founding the United Nations has never once had a female Secretary-General. The UN is long overdue for a woman leader!

In 1995, the Platform for Action adopted in Beijing at the UN's Fourth World Conference on Women called for the development of "mechanisms to nominate women candidates for appointment to senior posts in the United Nations" and set the target of "overall" gender equality, particularly at the Professional level and above, by the year 2000." Yet ten years after the Beijing conference and five years after the target date, the United Nations is nowhere near its established goal, and there is no indication that a woman has ever even been considered for the top post. Every year the General Assembly adopts a resolution on the "Improvement of the Status of Women in the Secretariat," lamenting the lack of progress that has been made and calling for the achievement of gender balance in the staffing of the Secretariat. It's time to make good on your promises.

The upcoming election of a new UN Secretary-General is an opportunity to implement the commitment made in Beijing in a meaningful way. I urge you to vote to nominate one of the many highly qualified women candidates for the Secretary-General post this year.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
March 02, 2006