Pivotal role of women trailblazers from India, developing nations in UN lauded

From Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit to Hansa Jivraj Mehta, the pivotal role played by trailblazing women from India and other developing nations in the UN since its inception was lauded here, as it was highlighted that many women in senior positions across the world body hailed from developing and not the developed countries.

"A little noticed fact has been that while the global North tries to position itself as a leader of gender equality, there have been only three women who have served as the President of the General Assembly. All three have been from the global South," India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin said here.

Speaking at a special event 'Women and the Origins of the United Nations a Southern Legacy', Akbaruddin said Pandit, the first woman to be elected President of the General Assembly in as early as 1953, was from India.

The other women Presidents of the General Assembly have been Angie Elizabeth Brooks from Liberia in 1969 and Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa from Bahrain in 2006. The next President of the General Assembly will also be a woman candidate, again from the global South, he said.

"There has been no woman from the global North, who has been recommended by any state to assume the responsibility of serving as the President of the General Assembly, in more than seven decades of the UN," he said.

Akbaruddin noted that even as the Secretary General's efforts to achieve gender parity in the appointments to senior positions in the UN system are welcome and celebrated, "it is also important to know how many of the women in senior positions come from developing countries of the South."
She said even as the world body works for equality today, "we must also remember our history. That means paying tribute to the pioneers from the early years of the struggle."
"We are grateful for the efforts of the remarkable women from Brazil, the Dominican Republic, India, Mexico, Pakistan, Uruguay and Venezuela."