Excellencies,

Thank you for joining me this afternoon.

When we first met, five months ago – for what I’m proud to say was my first high-level meeting upon taking office – you urged me to hold regular dialogues and act quickly and decisively on gender equality.

Your recommendations included regular discussions on gender equality; strengthening of the role of the Advisory Board on Gender Equality; to hold discussions on Gender Based Violence, particularly against women leaders in politics; and the importance of increasing meaningful engagement and involvement of young women.

I am proud to say that not only did I listen, but I have taken action.

On the day of our first meeting, I registered as an International Gender Champion, and became the first to take the pledge for zero tolerance on gender base violence. I also pledged that I would not take part in panels that are not gender balanced – which I am proud to say I have not.

During the High-Level week, I held my very first interactive dialogue since taking the Office of the President, with female Heads of State and Government, as well as the European Union. I was encouraged to hear their thoughts and suggestions, though dismayed that only 18 of the 194 speakers that week were women.

With the help of the UN Secretariat, my office has been working on upgrading the services of the lactation rooms within the UN’s premises. The 9th room is completely new and will be located behind the General Assembly Hall, to ensure that all delegates, including those visiting during high-level weeks, will no longer need to depart the UN premises to nurse.

The Advisory Board on Gender Equality has been reconstituted, with expanded membership. This ensures interlinkages and synergies between Member States, the Secretariat, the human rights pillar of the UN System, UN-Women, civil society, and the private sector.

I have also ensured that women are represented, in their diversity, at equal levels within my Office. I have also appointed a Special Adviser on Gender Equality – a position created for the first time in the OPGA – to ensure that Gender Equality is approached in a holistic manner and mainstreamed through my Five Rays of Hope, as well as all mandated events and initiatives.

And on increasing the participation of young women, we recently welcomed eight young diplomats for our HOPE Fellowship Programme, of which 5 are young women.

And as always, I continue, at every opportunity, to meet with women and girls from all walks of life. This includes women scientists at COP26; women civil society members, at our CSO Town Hall in November; and discussions with young students, during my travels.

Excellencies,

It is said that teamwork divides the task and multiplies the success. This rings no truer than what has culminated from our collective efforts. 

The amount of work we have achieved over the short time span has been gratifying and humbling. And I thank each of you, members of this Circle, the Advisory Board, the Group of Friends on Gender Equality, and of course my team at OPGA, for helping to ensure this success.

But we must also understand that our work is never done. We must continue to build on this momentum and to ensure that our actions are not only louder than our words, but that they be far-reaching, resolute, and in abundance.

Going forward, we have a very busy few weeks, if not months. We have just celebrated the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, and we have, coming up, the International Women’s Day; the Commission on the Status of Women; a joint event with UNESCO on women and girls in climate change and science; and a signature event on the sidelines of CSW focusing on Ending Violence Against Women in Politics.

I am pleased to say that we successfully kicked off this marathon of events with a one-on-one chat with Dr. Roberta Bondar, a Canadian former astronaut and neurologist. This chat is part of our advocacy around women and girls in science, and is the first of an ongoing series of video podcasts that will expand to cover other areas, including vaccine equity and the upcoming CSW focus on climate and disaster risk reduction.

Additionally, we held our 6th Holhuashi Dialogue last week with women experts from across the main committees. I am told that this was the first such dialogue with women diplomats from across the six committees, and one which I hope will continue well beyond my Presidency.

Colleagues, we are off to a good start, but we are well aware that the clock is ticking. We are now halfway into my Presidency. There is an added urgency to optimize the remaining months of this session and accelerate action where needed.

With the few months left of this session, I remain optimistic on the ripple effects of our work, and of the standard that we are setting.

I thank you all for this opportunity and I look forward to your views.

Thank you.