UNITED NATIONS (AP) – At a private working lunch for the five most powerful members of the United Nations Security Council, the conversation turned to the question of the next U.N. secretary-general.
A European ambassador reminded colleagues of a General Assembly resolution nearly as old as the 70-year organization itself, a guiding document for a selection process for U.N. chief that has remained secretive and almost completely male. The January 1946 resolution says a “man of eminence and high attainment” should hold the post.
Perhaps, the ambassador suggested, some might want to add the words “or a woman.”
No doubt. Just three female candidates have been included in past closed-door votes and straw polls that the Security Council has used to make its choice for decades, but now two campaigns are launching to make sure the next “Your excellency” is a she.
“There have been eight men and no women. To me, it’s time,” said Jean Krasno, a lecturer at Yale who leads the new Campaign to Elect a Woman Secretary-General.