This is an English language translation of Una mujer para la Secretaría General, by Shazia Rafi.

On 13 October 2015, Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy Brey addressed the Security Council as President. “Gender inequality” he said, “threatened international peace and security”, the key research finding which led to the adoption of resolution 1325 (2000). Fifteen years later Spain had sponsored implementing Resolution 2242 (2015) pledging €1 million to the Global Acceleration Instrument.

Today the world has a chance to truly accelerate the Women, Peace and Security agenda by appointing a woman as the 9th United Nation’s Secretary-General; Spain should again take the lead.

Gender bias in the UN system runs deep, in its affiliated bodies, and its principal organs such as the UN Security Council [UNSC] itself. This was on full display in the first UNSC straw poll of Secretary-General candidates. Despite an array of equally qualified women; the straw poll tapped mostly men; only one woman made it to 3rd place. The second straw poll added a woman to 5th place.

Since Spring 2015 campaigns for a woman as the 9th SG have been working to ensure parity in candidate lists and qualifications. We were encouraged by the first open process with public, televised hearings organized by President of the General Assembly. This time a smoke-filled room of old boys would not be alone in making the decision; we believed that with a roster of unarguably qualified women candidates the battle would be won.

However, it has become apparent is the battle against misogyny has just begun.

After two undifferentiated straw polls, the hurdles against women remain high. Of the 15 members only one has a government headed by a woman- the United Kingdom; only one has a female Ambassador, the United States -which is trying to put distance between electing a woman President and the UNSG election. While not in the UN Charter, the principle of regional rotation remains strong as precedence; the Eastern Europe Group with the support of the Russian Federation has claimed this round. Hence 8 of the 12 candidates, 3 of them women, are from Eastern Europe. Several other countries are less convinced and have given weight to the Portuguese candidate Antonio Guterres, former Prime Minister and head of UNHCR.

UNSC members must analyze the candidatures of the women candidates dispassionately, setting aside the established bias of default-setting-to-male at the international level. Of the women, four have or are heading UN agencies. Irina Bokova of Bulgaria heads UNESCO; of special interest to Spain is the agency’s work with the Alhambra, Generalife and Albayzin as major World Heritage Sites. She is also from Eastern Europe. Susana Malcorra , currently Argentina’s Foreign Minister, was the UN’s Chef de Cabinet, ran Peace-keeping Support operations, which is often called the “the meat and potatoes” of the UN system. Helen Clark former New Zealand Prime Minister, heads UNDP, the largest UN agency charged with human security. Christiana Figueres of Costa Rica headed UN’s climate change negotiations in the Paris Agreement, and is also a Spanish national. Vesna Pusic of Croatia and Natalia Gherman of Moldova have both served as Foreign Ministers.
The agencies and the issues that these women have dealt with are the preventive, long-term security, sustainable development agenda that the UN must implement over the next decade. The UNSC should select a leader who has achieved demonstrable positive results on these issues.

Equally important for the credibility of UNSC is to show that it takes its own
unanimously approved resolutions 1325 and 2242 seriously. Beyond SC resolutions
are treaties/conventions on human rights, women’s rights negotiated by states
through the UN. According to former UN legal counsel, Hans Corell, “even if the UN is
not formally bound by these treaties under international treaty law, the standards
laid down in these treaties should be observed also by the UN.

Of these legal instruments is the widely adopted Convention on Elimination of all
forms of Discrimination Against Women [CEDAW]. A majority of the members of the
UNSC, including Spain have ratified CEDAW. Putting the women candidates at the
bottom of the listing is a violation of CEDAW principles.

Spain’s has a long heritage of strong female leadership; Isabel I of Castile, was
Renaissance Europe’s first female monarch. Heir to her mantle, Rajoy’s government
should choose a woman to lead the UN. It is the most important peace and security
job in the world; 8 men have not be able to prevent the “scourge of war” its time to
give this chance to a woman.