As the United Nations begins the final phase of choosing its next Secretary-General, five women are among the eight candidates still in the race – but the organisation has still never had a woman as its top leader in its 81-year history. Civil-society groups are now pressing member states to make the next appointment a breakthrough for women in global leadership.
The question is no longer whether qualified women are available.
They are……
The current field includes women from Guyana, Chile/Brazil-Mexico, Antigua and Barbuda, Costa Rica and Tonga. The next Secretary-General will take office in January 2027 after António Guterres completes his second term.
The gap becomes even more striking when the wider UN system is examined.
UN data show that women remain underrepresented in diplomacy and senior decision-making. Women account for only 21% of permanent representatives to the UN in New York, with the figure at 30% in Geneva and 32.9% in Vienna.
And there is another contradiction.
At some levels of the UN system, progress has been made. The organisation says gender parity has been maintained in its Senior Management Group and among resident coordinators since 2018, while gender parity at headquarters was first achieved in 2021 and has been sustained.
But the top job remains untouched.
The President of the UN General Assembly has pointed out that only 29 women currently serve as heads of state or government worldwide, while just 40 women serve as permanent representatives at the UN. She has also argued that the choice of who gets sent to senior diplomatic positions is ultimately a political decision.
That makes the 2026 Secretary-General selection more than a contest between candidates.
It is also a test of whether the world’s most important multilateral institution is ready to break a barrier it has never broken before.
After 81 years, is the world finally ready for a woman to lead the United Nations?
