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The electronic version of this document has been prepared at the Fourth
World Conference on Women by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
in collaboration with the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women
Secretariat.
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AS WRITTEN


Statement by Ms. Angela King
Director, Staff Administration, Compensation and Classification Division
Office of Human Resources Management of the United Nations Secretariat (UN/OHRM)

13 September 1995


Madame President,
Excellencies,

This is indeed a historic time for the United Nations when women and men
representing over 190 participating states, have come together to
celebrate the contribution of previous United Nations conferences and
forums on women, and at the same time look forward with a critical eye
to practical measures leading to the achievement of true balance and
equality for women throughout the world and in the secretariats of the
United Nations system by the year 2000.

In the United Nations when equality is achieved it will not only mean
equality for women, but for all staff irrespective of gender, and will
contribute to the enhancement of the Organization as a whole. Moreover,
to be credible, it must be equality with no concession to securing the
Charter’s admonition in Article 101 of maintaining the highest standards
of efficiency, competence and integrity for all United Nations staff. We
know there are detractors who preach that equality will mean a lowering
of standards. There are excellent women available both inside and
outside the Organization. Let us take a lesson from the Cairo Conference
which concluded decisively that once women were empowered through equal
access to employment, education and training the society as a whole
benefits economically, politically and socially. Let us mark this 50th
Anniversary year by a determination on the part of Member States and the
Organization to meet the challenge by finding and placing these women in
strategic central positions at all levels throughout the system.

The Platform of Action puts clearly in perspective the critical role of
women in decision and policy-making positions at the national, regional
and international levels. The delegations in the presentations at this
Conference have focused on this issue and have, more than any previous
Conference, stressed the need for the United Nations and its family of
organizations and agencies to set the pace in senior and higher level
posts within these bodies.

As the Human Development Report 1995 has pointed out there is a critical
link between women’s participation in political institutions and the
advancement of women. By analogy we can deduce that there is also a
critical link between the infusion of women’s contribution to leadership
in the UN in terms of fresh managerial styles, perspectives and
approaches, which needs to be captured to maximize the quality of the
Organizations contribution to the international community. At the
outset, tribute needs to be paid to all those who contributed to making
the Conference a success: Governments, Nongovernmental organizations,
the Secretariat and the Youth.

Over the past twenty-five years the impetus to improve the status of
women in the Secretariat has stemmed from three main sources: First,
Governments particularly those which served on the Commission on the
Status of Women since 1946. Second, the leadership of those top managers
who had the courage to be bold on this issue and I include the current
Secretary-General and of certain institutions such as the Joint
Inspection Unit which since 1977 showed that there were effective,
proven strategies by which the status of women in the Organization could
be advanced.

Third, women staff members themselves who through the Group of Equal
Rights for Women, started in 1971 as a pressure group, continue today to
focus on key issues for the advancement of women.

My task here today is to comment on some of the main obstacles to the
advancement of women in the United Nations and on what the Secretariat
is doing towards meeting the goals of the Charter and the resolutions of
the General Assembly by improving the organizations chances of gaining
access to a greater portion of the world's human resources who are
women. I will show that while appearing to be what has been termed
"strategies of words', some action has occurred. For the first time
strategies have been firmly placed in the context of the policies for
management change; managerial responsibility and accountability which
are the hall mark of the modernization of human resources of the United
Nations, called for by the Secretary-General in 1992.

Six problem areas for women highlighted in a recent report of the Joint
Inspection Unit related to (i) unmet targets, (ii) slow promotion, (iii)
lack of high level appointments, (iv) lack of attention to the General
Service and related categories, (v) uneven distribution of senior women
in the various departments and (vi) of poor representation of women from
Member States as measured by the number of women heading Permanent
Missions: down from 8 to 5 (Jamaica, Kazakstan, Liechtenstein, Trinidad
and Tobago and the United States of America) of the 185 Member States or
only 9.2W and (vii) lack of career planning.

I am pleased to report that some progress has been made in some of these
areas. For example, although the target of 35% posts - subject to
geography, set by the Member States will not be met by 31 December 1995,
there is every reason to believe that with managerial intentionality the
percentage which is now 33.8, will reach 34% by 31 December this year.

With regard to the number and percentage of women indecision making and
policy making positions - always a measure of progress - the target of
25W women at the D-1 level and above may yet be reached by 1997. The
percentage has moved from 14% in June 1994 to 16.9% in August 1995. Only
16 countries exceed the UN at this (subministerial) level, as shown by
the World's women 1995. So indeed the targets have set the stage for the
United Nations to lead rather than follow the majority of its Member
States.

In yet another area, that of promotion, we are pleased to report that
the number and rate of women promoted to the P-5 (senior officer) and D-
1 (assistant director) levels has increased steadily since January of
last year. Over 50% of all promotions have gone to women staff; and 45W
of all those recruited over the same period are women. This trend
promises to continue.

The Strategic Plan of Action for the Improvement of the Status of Women
in the Secretariat (1995-2000) was presented to the General Assembly at
its forty-ninth session last year in document A/49/587. This Plan is
firmly in place and provides a sound foundation by which the
administration, Member States and women staff can map and monitor
progress and charter ways forward. The Secretary-General intends to
report on its implementation and updating following this Conference, to
the General Assembly at its fiftieth session.

The Plan of Action covers goals and objectives for meeting targets and
for the first time clearly enunciates the goal of reaching 50 per cent
by the year 2000. The Strategic Plan also stresses the need for clear
opportunities for all categories of staff for: career development,
succession planning, more innovative hiring practices, a more practical
and updated roster of women and men candidates with due regard to the
projected occupational needs of the Organization, and the introduction
of regular instead of ad hoc reviews of General Service staff who have
not been promoted for long periods. The Plan which is very comprehensive
also encompasses strategies for setting up networking and executive
search for women, skills inventories of existing staff, more creative
recruitment missions, career counseling, mobility, and training. In
addition, the often overlooked area of harassment, including sexual
harassment of both women and men is being addressed and existing
mechanisms for investigation and disciplinary action tightened.

Perhaps the most innovative part of the plan is to link it with
mechanisms for introducing the new management culture. This involves a
radical change in approaches, attitudes and ways of thinking among all
levels of management and provides as a measurement tool a system of
performance appraisal for all members of staff up to the Under-
Secretary-General level. For the first time also, the results could
provide the data required not only to monitor but to change the attitude
of senior managers which up till now has been one of the major stumbling
blocks to progress for women in the Organization. There are now on-going
training programmes for senior managers, male and female from the P-5
level and above which includes gender sensitivity training.

The Plan also looks at other aspects of a woman’s life and recently
staggered hours were introduced and greater attention has been paid to
the impact of family on the work of all staff. Initiatives are underway
throughout the UN system for reviewing the existing policies and
formulating recommendations on issues such as: the concept of the
family; child care; career development; flexi-time and flexi-place;
personal leave; and, the establishment of support groups. These
programmes would allow greater flexibility to working women, who have
dual responsibilities towards family and the work place.

I believe on this occasion, we can also report positively that there is
a transformation of the commitment level from the very top.

The Secretary-General led the way in his statement to the General
Assembly in his first year of Office 1992 that the 50 per cent target
had to be met. Top leadership in Administration and Human Resources are
also fully committed for undertaking any necessary action to meet the
stated goals. The Focal Point for Women who has full responsibility for
developing and monitoring the Strategic Plan, with the Office of Human
Resources Management, is entrusted with reviewing existing policies and
commissioning new initiatives with regard to the status of women in the
Secretariat.

In addition, the Administrative Committee on Coordination, comprising
the heads of all the organizations and bodies of the United Nations
system with the Secretary-General himself as Chair, discussed in Vienna
in February 1995 the role of women in the Organization and took the time
to examine seriously what strategies for improvement could be adopted.
The Committee issued a landmark statement which if properly publicized
and monitored will set the tone for changing attitudes to the way in
which women currently participate throughout the United Nations system
in a way which can set a realizable example to Member States.

At this turning point when we launch and endorse action and support
which will determine whether the tone and nature of our discussions five
years from now in the year 2000, is triumphant or recriminatory as to
whether the women of the world and the organizations of the system are
dealing in words not actions, may I end with the following:

* commitment must continue to come from the top * attitudes at all
levels must change * managerial accountability must be a reality and
sanctions have to be imposed where there i8 no compliance * women within
the Organization must bear the responsibility for charting their own
careers, and of strengthening support systems for other women staff *
women outside the UN interested in working for the Organization must
themselves take an active role and apply for vacancies * male staff
should no longer feel challenged but the opportunity to share
professional and collegial growth with women staff at all levels should
be welcomed

But perhaps the most important requirement would be for Government to
supply the United Nations human resources offices with an equal or
greater number of women candidates in order to enable the goals of 50%
women in posts subject to geography and at the higher level to be met

Should these goals be accomplished, then I believe that women and men in
Government, NGOS, and at all levels of society will feel that the
efforts of the Conference in the sector of advancing women in decision
making will have succeeded.

Angela E.V. King, Deputy to the Assistant Secretary-General
United Nations Office of Human Resources Management (OHRM)

[Copies of the OHRM booklet - Employment Opportunities with the United
Nations may be obtained from the Director, Specialist Services Division,
Office of Human Resources Management, Room S2500, United Nations, New
York, NY 10017, USA.]