UN Secretary-General António Guterres has vowed to use his influence in the next two years to fight for global gender equality, including persuading governments to repel discriminatory laws, increase female representation in peace-processes and include unpaid domestic work in GDP.
The Secretary-General gave a speech on the theme “Women and Power” at the New School, a New York University last night. Guterres who has two years remaining of his five-year mandate as UN Secretary-General says that in that time he intends to “deepen (his) personal commitment to highlighting and supporting gender equality in all areas of our work.”
Guterres says he will personally contact governments that have discriminatory laws on their books to advocate for change. In addition, he will use the influence of the United Nations to make sure women have equal representation in peace processes.
“I will also advocate for GDP to include measures of wellbeing and sustainability, and for unpaid domestic work to be given its true value,” Guterres said.
“I am committed to ending “default male” thinking across the United Nations. We are a data-driven organization; it is essential that our data does not make the ridiculous assumption that men are the norm and women are the exception.”
Guterres concluded his speech by saying: “Gender equality is a question of power; power that has been jealously guarded by men for millennia… The 21st century must be the century of women’s equality. Let us all play our part in making it so.”