The dangers of turning the world leaders’ summit into a boys’ club

Analysis: Campaigners warn the low number of female speakers at the UN General Assembly will have repercussions, writes Maya Oppenheim

Dominant male: President Trump at the ‘world’s parliament’ (Alamy Live News)

With world leaders gathered from around the world, the annual General Assembly of the United Nations this year claimed to be focused on “inclusion” – but it seems that inclusivity did not stretch to its list of speakers.

Just eight per cent of the 131 speakers in New York over the first four days of the general debate were women as 200 countries gathered to discuss peace and security, conflict, development, international law, climate change and gender equality.

This has prompted warnings that the dearth of women’s voices and perspectives at the world’s most influential diplomatic event – which sees leaders from almost 200 countries come together in New York every September – could have a serious impact on how issues are treated.

The fact there were 12 times more male speakers at the 74th General Assembly is arguably not indicative of the structures of the UN but instead symptomatic of the acute underrepresentation of women in political life across the world.

Around 90 per cent of heads of government are men, and only 24 per cent of all national parliamentarians are women, according to figures from February this year (a rise from 11 per cent in 1995). On top of this, there are 27 states in the world where women make up less than 10 per cent of parliamentarians in single or lower houses.

Although the 193 member states of the United Nations are represented at the assembly, it is not always the head of state, and is sometimes a deputy leader or foreign minister.

But what are the consequences of the dearth of female representation at the assembly? Experts warn it leads to the silencing of women’s voices on critical issues of global policy at a time when sexual and reproductive rights, long taken for granted, are under threat from the right.

Shelby Quast, director of the US branch of Equality Now, a non-government organisation (NGO) that aims to promote the rights of women and girls, said the imbalance was “deplorable”.

“The UN should be leading by example in demonstrating best practices that deliver gender parity and remove barriers to women’s full participation at every level.

“So it is both disappointing and deplorable to see how women’s voices continue to be underrepresented at the UN General Assembly, and it is an imbalance that needs urgent addressing.”

Elmira Bayrasli, chief executive of Foreign Policy Interrupted, an organisation which strives to tackle gender disparity in the press, argued international problems would not be resolved with a “one-dimensional male perspective”.

“It’s not only tone deaf, it’s dangerous,” she added. “If we’re going to be serious about getting to solutions, then we need to be serious about drawing on the expertise of a wide variety of people, namely women. The old boys’ club is grossly outdated. Surely we can imagine a future that looks and sounds different from the one of the past?”

The General Assembly is sometimes referred to as the “world’s parliament” and provides a forum for important debates – as well as having the power to make recommendations to the United Nations Security Council. The UN said that, while it was up to individual nations who was sent to represent them, the secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, was concerned by the “massive gender disparity”.

Farah Nazeer, deputy director of Advocacy at ActionAid UK, an NGO which works to counter poverty and injustice worldwide, said: “The global problems we face can only be addressed by bringing together differing perspectives, knowledge and experience. It is not acceptable that women’s voices are not being heard in forums like the General Assembly when women are amongst the poorest and most marginalised people in the world.”