translated from Spanish: Ana María Menéndez, the woman who leads the UN as an “example” of parity

United Nations has been proposed to achieve gender parity within the Organization for 2028 and responsible for ACE egurar that this objective has been met is a Spanish, Ana María Menéndez, advocating that the UN should be “an example”.
“United Nations has to be a model and an example to follow. “If we achieve this goal, we can tell the Member States: this can be achieved”, explains the diplomat in an interview with Efe.
Menendez is Senior Advisor on policies of the António Guterres, the UN Secretary-General who has entrusted to lead one of its big bets within the organization.
The commitment of the Portuguese diplomat is 2028 the UN may need total gender parity among its officials, in all departments and agencies and at all levels.
To achieve this, Guterres has started from the top, naming a senior management group – something as their Government – with more women than men and expected that to 2021, at the latest, the parity is a reality in all of the higher ranks of UN.
According to Menendez, that goal is already practically fulfilled, because right now there is at that level, 47% of women versus 53% of men, a rank within the strategy approved in 2017, already he is considered joint, although the idea is that they will become half and mita d.
Also has been already achieved the milestone of the parity between the resident coordinator of the UN, officials representing the Organization in different countries.
Difficulties, for now, are especially on the ground, for example in peace operations, where women remain a minority not only between the military (who have a strategy on the sidelines), but also among civilians.
United Nations has also met with misgivings within your own home. “There is certainly no reluctance. Lie if you say otherwise”, recognizes the Spanish diplomatic.
Explains, the opposition is not only of men, but there are also female staff that believes that these measures “are insulting to women” and someone who believes that this might harm his career.
In response, Menendez claimed two arguments that believes that they are “difficult to refute”. One, the fact that United Nations, as an organization serving the peoples of the world, “needs to reflect” the reality that women represent half of the population.
And two, that “the organizations work best when they are more inclusive and they are more diverse”.
“The people that we serve feel better when she sees that there are men and women in United Nations teams when it sees only men”, assures.
The big bet of the UN for parity has come precisely at a time in which arise more and more reactions to the progress of feminism.
“There’s one tension, certainly no” recognized Menéndez, who insist in any case in which this movement which is “Rethinking” the whole issue of equality is not majority and which Member States commitments that must be respected.
“All Member States, signed the Agenda 2030 and pledged to achieve the goal number 5, which is about gender equality.” And have to comply with it,”stresses.
 

Original source in Spanish