Q&A: Qualified Women Have Better Chance in Top Jobs

Thalif Deen interviews UNESCO Director-General IRINA BOKOVA* –
IPS/Terraviva
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 8 (IPS) Irina Bokova, who was elected director-general
of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)
last September, heads the Paris-based agency at a time when the world body
has placed a high priority on gender empowerment.

She joins the ranks of several women who preside over U.N. agencies,
either as elected and/or appointed heads, including Margaret Chan of the
World Health Organisation (WHO), Thoraya Obaid of the U.N. Population Fund
(UNFPA), Helen Clark of the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP), Anne
Veneman of the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF), Josette Sheeran of the
World Food Programme (WFP) and Anna Tibaijuka of U.N. Habitat.

Asked if her election by the 193-member UNESCO General Conference
symbolises gender empowerment, Bokova told IPS: "My election
as director-general is perhaps more indicative of the trend that competent
and qualified women have a better chance of competing for these very high
level posts now than ever before."
Bokova was elected from a field of nine candidates, mostly men. She beat
the front-runner, Farouk Hosny of Egypt, in the final vote, to become the
first woman to head UNESCO since it was founded in 1945.

In an interview with IPS U.N. Bureau Chief Thalif Deen, Bokova said the
growing gender empowerment is also the result of the strong advocacy not
only by the United Nations but also by women's organisations and
gender equality advocates at national, regional and global levels over the
last 35 years (and since the first international conference on women in
Mexico in 1975).

"This trend is evident in national politics as well as in
international organisations – although the average percentages of women in
high-level posts are still far from being satisfactory from a gender
equality perspective," said Bokova, a former ambassador of the
Republic of Bulgaria to France and Monaco, and until recently,
Bulgaria's Permanent Delegate to UNESCO.

She hails from a country where some of the key senior positions are being
held by women, including the mayor of the capital Sofia, the minister of
justice, the speaker of parliament and the head of the prime
minister's office.

According to UNESCO, the gender divide worldwide is one of the most
significant inequalities within the digital divide, and it cuts across all
social and income groups.

Of the 774 million adults who cannot read, two-thirds are women. Women
make up only one-quarter of the world's researchers.

And of the world's one billion poorest people, three-fifths are women
and girls.

Currently, UNESCO is spearheading several gender-related projects
worldwide.

A literary project for girls and women in Lebanon addresses gender-based
violence and gender-stereotypes in schools and improved literacy
programmes in rural areas.

UNESCO is also partnering with L'Oreal, the cosmetics marketer, in a
project to assist some 500 outstanding female scientists move forward in
their professional careers.

A Palestinian Women's Research and Documentation Centre has been set
up in Ramallah to function as a training, research and resource centre.

The U.N. agency has also launched a global initiative aimed at promoting
gender equality in the media.

Bokova said that gender equality is one of UNESCO's global priorities
not only for 2010 but through 2013.

"I am personally committed to pursuing this global priority through
substantive and concrete action in programming at the country level and
also within the UNESCO Secretariat," she added.

Excerpts from the interview follow.

Q: What are your thoughts on the creation of a new U.N. "gender
entity" for women?

A: The decision taken by U.N. member states to create a composite gender
equality entity by bringing together the existing four groups – the U.N.
Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the Office of the Special Adviser on
Gender Issues (OSAGI), the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW) and
the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of
Women (INSTRAW) – is an initiative which aims to strengthen the efforts to
promote gender equality both in the normative and operational spheres and
as such represents an important step.

Q: How will this advance the cause of gender empowerment?

A: This new entity does not mean that other U.N. agencies do not need to
continue to support gender equality in and through their own work. UNESCO
will continue in its efforts to support gender equality in all its domains
and in its Secretariat.

Q: How effective will the new gender entity be?

A: The effectiveness and impact of this new entity will, to some extent,
depend on the resources (human and financial) that will be made available.
As a member of the Chief Executives Board (CEB), I will advocate gender
equality and also support the efforts of the new entity and its head in
CEB and in other high-level groups.

Promoting gender equality is the responsibility of all, women and men, at
all levels and in all walks of life.