New York, 4 March 1999
Mrs.
Clinton, Madam President, Friends and Colleagues, Permettez-moi
tout d'abord de souhaiter la bienvenue à nos invités de marque.
Je tiens aussi à remercier le Groupe pour l'égalité de droits
pour les femmes aux Nations Unies de nous avoir réunis ici,
et saluer le travail diligent que fournissent ses membres,
tout au long de l'année, en plus de leurs fonctions régulières.
Je suis particulièrement heureux d'être parmi vous aujourd'hui.
Quand je me suis adressé à vous l'année dernière, lors de
la Journée internationale de la femme, je vous ai dit qu'au
delà des symboles et des cérémonies, nous devons tout faire
pour être pris au sérieux. Notre action en faveur des femmes
ne doit être uniquement symbolique et cérémoniale mais doit
avant tout se traduire par des actes concrets. This year,
it is perhaps more important than ever to show that we mean
business. On Monday, we mark the last International Women's
Day of the 20th century. It is a century that has seen the
best and worst of human endeavour. A century that was perhaps
the most brutal in history, and yet it gave birth to this
Organization. Our Charter proclaims the equal rights of men
and women. When the century opened, women had the right to
vote in a mere handful of countries. As it closes, the vast
majority of countries have universal suffrage. When the century
opened, women were launching the remarkable movement for an
equal share in decision-making everywhere. As it closes, the
participation of women at senior levels of leadership, national
and international, is no longer questioned. In many countries,
the equal enjoyment of human rights have been written into
law. The world has identified violence against women in its
various forms as a clear violation of women's rights. Laws
have been enacted, at the international, regional and national
levels, to confront what should always have been considered
unconscionable. Yet much remains to be done. As we stand on
the threshold of the new millenium, we are confronted by challenges
both new and old. At the forefront of the new is the way women
are affected by the negative side of globalization. Women
are usually the first to loose their jobs as governments restructure
and companies retrench. Poverty among women -- especially
heads of households and older women -- appears to be deepening.
Women are more likely to be unemployed or underemployed. If
employed, they are more likely than men to be found in poorly
paid and insecure jobs. And they are more likely to suffer
financially the consequences of the break-up of the family.
As divorce rates increase everywhere, ever more women are
left with the responsibility of caring for their children
without the support which the father is legally - and morally
- obliged to provide. It is therefore an issue of moral concern
for us in the United Nations. It presents us with a duty to
set an example. On the troubling issue of staff members in
default of court-ordered family support payments, I can therefore
announce today that the United Nations will voluntarily deduct
the funds owed from the salaries of such staff members and
pay it to the spouse and/or children. In the workplace, too,
women continue to pay a higher price than men do for simply
meeting their obligations as parents. [ANECDOTE about being
a single parent in Geneva and possibly being met with greater
tolerance for being a man]. From issues of morality to issues
of mortality, women pay a higher price. They continue to pay
with their lives for inadequate provision of health care.
To our shame, maternal and infant mortality remains high in
many countries. HIV infection among women continues to rise,
while too many programmes fail to target HIV/AIDS prevention
and treatment among women and girls. Next year, five years
will have passed since the Beijing Declaration and Platform
for Action - the world's first truly comprehensive plan in
areas which are of critical concern to women's advancement.
Let us recommit ourselves to its full implementation. The
ideal of gender equality, to which we have so long aspired,
is still far from a reality. In December, we will commemorate
the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
I urge those Governments that have not yet done so to ratify
the Convention. On this last International Women's Day before
the new millennium, let us rededicate ourselves to eliminating
the discrimination and disadvantage to which women are still
subjected -- whether in access to health care services, in
the provision of social services and social safety nets, in
peace-building and reconstruction, in the home, or in the
workplace. And speaking of the workplace, let us take an honest
look at how we are doing on gender equality in the United
Nations itself. The principle of gender equality, affirmed
in Article 8 of the Charter, is a core value of this Organization.
It applies to any decision affecting the conditions of service
of all staff and the environment in which they work. The full
and equal participation of women and men at all levels in
the workplace is pivotal to the successful implementation
of the Organization's mandates. Yet as the century closes
we, in the United Nations Secretariat, are still short of
the goal we set for ourselves -- full gender balance by the
year 2000. Clearly, we must work harder. We have accomplished
remarkable things since our inception, when the proportion
of women at professional and higher levels was very low. On
this day last year, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Organization
had been in the job for just one week. Today, we can find
no better source of courage and inspiration than the way in
which Louise Fréchette has assumed her duties and asserted
her authority. She has unmistakeably improved the leadership
and management capacity of the Organization. She joins Carol
Bellamy, Catherine Bertini, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Sadako
Ogata, Mary Robinson, Nafis Sadik, Angela King and others
in our growing number of women in top positions - women who
are living proof that genuine ability has nothing to do with
gender. Yet the slow rate at which women's overall representation
has increased is cause for serious concern. There is considerable
improvement in how men and women perceive each other in the
workplace, in gender sensitivity and in awareness of gender
perspectives. But this must be expanded to include all staff
in all departments and at all duty stations. For I cannot
think of one single issue we deal with in the United Nations
that is not a woman's issue. Women are every bit as much affected
as any man by peace and security, by human security, and by
human rights. It is, therefore, right and indeed necessary
that women should be there to work towards these goals, with
equal strength and in equal numbers. Some have expressed concern
that the Special Measures for the Achievement of Gender Equality,
which we are strengthening this year, have the effect of discriminating
against men. Yet more men than women continue to be recruited
and promoted in the Professional and higher categories. Let
me stress again: preference is given to women only when two
candidates are otherwise equally qualified. The point is to
redress an imbalance that goes against the very founding principles
of the Organization and which should not have been existed
in the first place. If the United Nations is the sum of its
membership, we cannot divorce the attitudes in this house
from those in Member States. Among 185 Member States today,
there are only 10 women Permanent Representatives. That means
that for every woman ambassador to the UN, there are almost
20 male ones. So if you look at it from a gender perspective,
you have 50 per cent of the population of the world's nations
producing only some five per cent of its representation to
the United Nations. Yet in every country I have visited, I
have been impressed by the high level of competence of women:
in Government, in civil society, in science and academia,
in business. And every time, I find myself wishing that Member
States would put more of these women forward for service to
the United Nations, both as Permanent Representatives and
as UN officials. And so I hope that the goal of 50-50 gender
distribution in the UN Secretariat will be embraced by all
Member States. As we strive to meet that goal, it is clearly
in the interest of all countries to field as many women candidates
as possible for key positions in order to optimize their country's
presence in the Organization. Let us also avoid pigeon-holing
women as being more adept at this or that. It troubles me
when I hear about women "enriching" or "bringing a human touch
to" our work -- as though women were an incidental ornament
to the main machinery. Or, for that matter, as though we men
were incapable of showing a human face. I would hope, at least,
that the latter is not the case. Women are not the feel-good
factors of international affairs. Women are half of humankind.
As such, they are equally concerned with, and should be equally
involved in, the work of the one Organization which works
for the advancement of all humankind. Having dedicated itself
to the rights of human beings, the Organization is only as
good as the way it upholds the rights of its own. Some of
you may remember the thought-provoking book written more than
30 years ago by ex-UN-staffer Shirley Hazzard, entitled, aptly,
People in Glass Houses. She points out that it is difficult
to believe completely in an enterprise that requires one's
own diminution. Ms. Hazzard was also right in her choice of
title: we do live in a glass house, and it could hardly be
otherwise. In the sense that we are, and should be, open to
scrutiny and offering transparency at all times; and in the
sense that, since we are not without sin, none of us can afford
to throw stones. But that does not mean any of us need live
under a glass ceiling. I would urge you all today not to impose
limits on yourselves. You possess the key to the advancement
of women on one condition: you must have the courage to believe
that what you do makes a difference. Take charge of your career
development; define your interests; map out a strategy of
how you can contribute most effectively to the work of the
Organization and, thereby, to your own professional development.
And above all, remember what Eleanor Roosevelt once said.
"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."
It is the duty of every manager to encourage you to grow and
advance. [ANECDOTE about encouraging a woman colleague to
apply for a promotion and her reservation that she did not
"want to be seen as ambitious".] All of you might draw courage
from the words of the Deputy Secretary-General, who said recently:
"When I look back on my career, my only regret is that I was
too timid, never too bold… As a rule, bureaucracies tend to
resist innovation and change. All too often, they have a tendency
to predict that the roof will cave in. More often than not,
the roof does not cave in." Friends, She is right. The roof
does not cave in -- but you can break through the ceiling.
So have the courage to set an example for all to see. Do not
let people in this glass house become people under a glass
ceiling. Should you perceive that there is one, let us break
through it together. Thank you, and the very best of luck
to you all.
