Remarks by Mr. Michael Møller
United Nations Under-Secretary-General
Director-General, a.i., United Nations Office at Geneva
and Ambassador Pamela Hamamoto
U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva
at the Launch Presentation of the International Geneva Gender Champions Leadership Network
Palais des Nations
1 July 2015
Director General Møller
Dear Colleagues and Friends:
Leadership matters. As leaders, every day you make a real difference in spearheading programmes for change across the world and in setting the tone and vision in your missions and organizations. And we are pleased that you are all here today to enable that leadership to matter even more for a cause that unites us all: gender equality and the full empowerment of all women and men.
When it comes to gender equality, we all have a role to play. Confronting bias in our own actions. Making sure that we conceive and implement progammes that promote empowerment of both women and men. In contributing to a working environment where all can contribute equally and fully. But as decision-makers we have a special responsibility to show the way and to create conditions where these individual and daily actions can be taken.
With the unique concentration of Member States, international organizations, civil society, research and academic institutions and private sector entities, International Geneva provides an ideal platform to show that leadership in a most practical way. Together, our actions have a truly global impact, making a difference for peace, rights and well-being for all people across the plant. We have a special responsibility to capitalize on this potential for greater gender equality.
And now is exactly the time to do it. 2015 is a critical year for advancing the cause of gender equality, with the 20th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the new post-2015 development agenda being put in place. If this agenda is to be truly transformative, we need to place gender equality at the heart of all of our efforts.
This is why we are inviting you all to join the International Geneva Gender Champions – a new network of decision-makers in Geneva to lead by example through concrete actions that lead to genuine change both in organizational culture and in programming.
The network draws on the US Mission’s Future She Deserves Initiative and the United Nations System-Wide Action Plan on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women – UN-SWAP – and engages leaders at the highest levels here in Geneva. And we hope that you will all be part of it, to use your unique positions to galvanize action.
All Champions will commit to undertake three, concrete measurable, accountable institutional actions in the calendar year to advance gender equality, either in the executive management of the organization or in programmatic work. One of these actions will be to sign up to Geneva Gender Parity Pledge for inclusive panels.
Last week, at the successful Power of Empowered Women event, I announced that I will no longer accept invitations to serve on panel without any women participants. This is the essence of the Geneva Gender Champions (GGC) Panel Parity Pledge, which is an integral part of the Champions initiative.
As two additional concrete initiatives, I will initiate the compilation of a Gender Policy for UNOG, and we will introduce a gender equality component as part of all induction progrmmes at UNOG. With this combination of initiatives, I aim to both change mindsets within the Organization and ensure greater inclusivity and equality in the substantive discussions in International Geneva. These are just two examples that are appropriate and helpful for UNOG. There will be many other activities or initiatives that will work for others. We are providing some ideas as part of the event today. And we will keep collecting good examples that we will post on the new website, to serve as a pool of inspiration.
It is now my pleasure to hand over to Ambassador Hamamoto who has been a key driving force in bringing together the Champions initiative. It is truly an honour to be working alongside her on this project, and to benefit from her passion and visionary leadership. Ambassador Hamamoto will provide more details on what it means to be an International Geneva Gender Champion, and what the next milestones in the project are.
After that, we hope to hear from you.
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Ambassador Pamela Hamamoto
Thank you all for being here to kick off our Geneva Gender Champions initiative. We know that it’s an incredibly busy week and your joining us here today means a great deal to us.
As Michael mentioned, today, he and I are jointly launching a new initiative focused on gender equality and the empowerment of women. And we are asking you, as the decision makers and leaders in Geneva, to join us in making a personal commitment to do what you can to break down some of the systemic barriers that are preventing women from reaching their full potential, from having a true seat at the table, from contributing to society in all the ways we know they can if simply given equal opportunities to do so.
It is unacceptable that four decades after the first World Conference on Women, that 20 years after the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, I am standing before you presenting these representative statistics:
- In the United Nations system, women represent only 30% of senior leadership.
- Currently the labor force participation rate for women is 50%, compared to almost 80% for men.
- Women hold less than 20% of board seats globally, and less than 5% of CEOs of the world’s largest corporations are women.
- As of January 2015, only 10 out of 152 Heads of State and 14 out of 193 Heads of Government were women.
Now, as you heard from Michael, the commitments we are asking you to make are not just symbolic commitments. But don’t get me wrong…the symbolism is indeed important. Because you all know that what you do here, as Ambassadors and Heads of Organizations, has a multiplier effect out in the world. You can help level the playing field for women and girls. That’s what you, as head of your organization, are able to do. And that’s what I feel you, as head of your organization, have a responsibility to do.
Again, as Michael mentioned, to become a Geneva Gender Champion, we are asking you to make 3 commitments. The underlying premise of this initiative is not that it’s hard to make these commitments, but rather that it’s hard NOT to. Because while we are asking everyone to sign on to the GGC Panel Parity Pledge (which I will explain in a minute), the other two institutional commitments are customized by YOU based on what works for your organization.
For some, this will be an opportunity to commit to taking bold steps, while for others, this will be an opportunity to commit to taking first steps – and both approaches are perfectly fine. I will offer to personally work with you to figure out how you can become a member of this leadership team. Because what is important is that we are all working together, supporting each others’ efforts, and by doing so, sending a powerful message to the International Geneva community, that collectively, we feel these issues should be prioritized in our work.
Going back to the GGC Panel Parity Pledge, we are not asking you to commit to only organizing or participating on panels that have 50-50 gender parity. That would be unrealistic. We are asking you to commit to STRIVING for gender parity, by implementing a process within your organization that will ultimately allow for more women’s voices to be heard. The GGC Panel Parity Pledge provides a tool to build awareness in our work by offering a series of questions for you to consider when invited to participate on a panel. This tool will remind us all to make a concerted effort to seek diverse representation from both men and women in order to have fuller, more balanced discussions.
Some colleagues who are interested in becoming Geneva Gender Champions have expressed concern because they first need to get clearance from their capitals. So let me quickly review the timeline. We are asking that by September 1 – or better yet by today – you notify us that you are committing to becoming a Geneva Gender Champion. Then, by September 30, we ask that you inform us of your two specific institutional commitments, and allow us to post them on the Geneva Gender Champions website. Then, since these are meant to be concrete, measurable commitments, the following September we will hold an annual meeting and review progress.
In the future, we hope to expand this leadership network to include leading NGOs and private sector partners who are interested in making similar commitments on behalf of their organizations.
It takes great partners like Michael to make meaningful change a reality. He is dedicated to increasing gender representation in leadership positions, closing the gaps, empowering women and girls, and facilitating their involvement as equal members of society…and I’m happy to be joining forces with him on this important initiative. And it’s truly an honor to have the opportunity to celebrate his official appointment as Director General and the launch of this initiative on the same day. I find it very fitting given the leadership he has always shown as a true gender champion.
So again, thank you very much for coming, we hope you now have a better understanding of what we are looking for, and why your personal commitment is necessary if we are going to affect real, lasting change for women and girls around the world.
Thank you very much. And now we’d love to answer any questions you may have.