NYT: Two Bulgarian Women Are Among Possible Nominees for UN Secretary-General

The chief of the U.N.'s education and culture agency, Irina Bokova of Bulgaria, gestures during an interview with The Associated Press at the Global Forum for Youth, Peace and Security, in Madaba, Jordan, Friday, Aug. 21, 2015. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh)

Two Bulgarian women – UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova and European Commission Vice-President Kristalina Georgieva, are among the possible nominees for succeeding Ban Ki-moon as the next UN Secretary-General.

This is suggested by a recent article of The New York Times (NYT) entitled “After 70 Years of Men, Some Say It Is 'High Time' a Woman Led the UN”.

Among the other possible female candidates are Chilean President Michelle Bachelet and former Prime Minister of New Zealand Helen Clark, who currently heads the UN Development Programme.

The article notes that the gender of the next UN Secretary-General has become an intense topic of discussion lately.

Three dozen countries and numerous women's groups have been advocating that the successor of Ban Ki-moon, whose term expires on 31 December 2016, should be a woman.

Even the Elders, an organisation of prominent world leaders and former statesmen, have called on countries to nominate women for the position.

Women have increasingly acquired senior positions globally, as they have been elected to lead countries and international organisations, while major companies are required to reserve certain number of their supervisory seats to women.

The UN has been one of the few exceptions as since its foundation in 1945 all eight secretary-generals to date have been men and women continue to be under-represented in senior leadership positions within the organisation.

Apart from ensuring gender equality, there has been a growing frustration with the lack of transparency in the selection procedure of the secretary-general.

As the process is not clearly stipulated by the UN Charter, the choice of the secretary-general has turned into bargaining between the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.

On most occasions, the Security Council has announced its preferred candidate, who has then been approved by the broader membership of the General Assembly.

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