Path to Gender Parity Remains Long, Despite Progress in Breaking Barriers, Secretary-General Says at Opening of ‘Women in United Nations’ Exhibition

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon remarks at the opening of the exhibition “A Celebration of Leading Women in the United Nations”, in New York, today:

What a wonderful exhibition!  I thank the Governments of Colombia, Germany, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, on behalf of the Group of Friends for Gender Parity, for this remarkable initiative.  I am especially honoured to be here with Secretary-General-designate [António] Guterres — a true champion of women’s equality.

These panels tell an inspiring story of breaking barriers.  I am interested to read about the pioneer women from the days before I served as Secretary-General.  And I am proud to see progress over the past 10 years.  I was privileged to appoint a number of the women featured in these panels, including Major General Kristin Lund, the first female Force Commander, who is here today.  They proved the best person for a job is often a woman.  This exhibition also shows troubling statistics.  We still have a long way to go to achieve gender parity.

My successor is committed to this cause.  Even before taking office, our new Secretary-General showed with his transition team that he is serious about women in leadership roles.  And just yesterday, when he took the oath of office, he reaffirmed his commitment.

If I may, I would like to make an appeal on his behalf.  Please, Member States, nominate capable women to serve across the United Nations.  And please appoint women to lead your delegations to our conferences and councils.

Many of the pioneers in this exhibition started out in government service.  Look at the first woman Under-Secretary-General, Lucille M. Mair.  She was a Jamaican diplomat before she was appointed, in 1982, as the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Palestine.

We are begging for more women in our missions.  The panel on our all-female Formed Police Unit in Liberia shows the enormous value of women blue helmets.

I hope this exhibition will be seen far and wide so we can raise more awareness and get greater results.  Let us continue to write this beautiful HERstory and replace that last panel with a graphic showing full gender parity.

This benefits more than women — it fulfils our promise of equal rights, advancing a better world for all.  Thank you.