UNGA President: Next UN Secretary-General should be a woman

President of the UN General Assembly, Maldivian Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid has called on the world to choose a woman as the next Secretary-General of the UN. 

He made the call at the opening of the 66th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women on Monday. 

In his opening statement, Shahid noted that only four women have been elected President of the UNGA in its 76 years, while no woman has ever been chosen as the Secretary-General. 

“This needs to be corrected. The UN cannot call for implementation of gold standards throughout the world as far as gender equality and women’s empowerment is concerned but not implement this standard at home,” he said. 

Shahid said that he personally would lead from the front calling for the next Secretary-General to be a women, and urged others to join the call.