International Gender Champions (IGC) is a network of female and male leaders of member states, international organizations, and civil society working for gender equality. It is an initiative of Women@TheTable, and was founded in 2015 by Caitlin Kraft-Buchman of Women@TheTable, Ambassador
Pam Hamamoto, Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations in Geneva, and
Michael Møller, the Under-Secretary-General of the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
and current Director-General of the
United Nations Office at Geneva
The United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG, french: Office des Nations Unies à Genève) in Geneva, Switzerland, is one of the four major offices of the United Nations where numerous different UN agencies have a joint presence. The main UNOG ...
.
Purpose
Champions pledge to no longer sit on single sex panels, and commit to implementing two individual institutional commitments for gender equality in their work. According to co-founder Caitlin Kraft-Buchman, International Gender Champions’ strategy is to help make a wide range of organizations make “huge changes through tiny steps” by committing to realistic, achievable transformations for gender equality.
At the IGC launch in 2015, Møller stated, “With the unique concentration of Member States, international organizations, civil society, research and academic institutions and private sector entities, International Geneva provides an ideal platform to show that leadership in a most practical way. Together, our actions have a truly global impact, making a difference for peace, rights and well-being for all people across the planet. We have a special responsibility to capitalize on this potential for greater gender equality.”
Network
There are currently over 200 International Gender Champions in
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
,
Vienna
en, Viennese
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, and
Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...
. Champions include UN Secretary General
António Guterres
António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres ( , ; born 30 April 1949) is a Portuguese politician and diplomat. Since 2017, he has served as secretary-general of the United Nations, the ninth person to hold this title. A member of the Portuguese Socia ...
, the heads of UN Offices at Geneva, Vienna, and Nairobi, the
ILO
The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and ol ...
,
WHO
Who or WHO may refer to:
* Who (pronoun), an interrogative or relative pronoun
* Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism
* World Health Organization
Arts and entertainment Fictional characters
* Who, a creature in the Dr. Seuss book '' Horton He ...
,
WTO
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation
in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and e ...
,
WIPO
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO; french: link=no, Organisation mondiale de la propriété intellectuelle (OMPI)) is one of the 15 specialized agencies of the United Nations (UN). Pursuant to the 1967 Convention Establishin ...
,
ITU
The International Telecommunication Union is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established on 17 May 1865 as the International Telegraph Unio ...
,
UNHCR
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrati ...
,
OHCHR
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, commonly known as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) or the United Nations Human Rights Office, is a department of the Secretariat of the United Nati ...
,
IPU
Ipu is a percussion instrument made from gourds that is often used to provide a beat for hula dancing.
There are two types of ipu, the ipu heke (), which is a double gourd made by taking two gourds of different sizes, cutting them and joining t ...
,
UNIDO
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) (French: Organisation des Nations unies pour le développement industriel; French/Spanish acronym: ONUDI) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that assists countries in ...
, and other member states and civil society groups. For example,
Le Thi Tuyet Mai
Le Thi Tuyet Mai (born 1967, Hanoi) is a Vietnamese diplomat, who in February 2020, was appointed Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Permanent Mission of Viet Nam to the United Nations Office and the World Trade Organization.
Biog ...
, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Permanent Mission of
Viet Nam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making it ...
to the
United Nations Office and the
World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation
in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and e ...
is a supporter.
After joining IGC, Secretary General Guterres stated, “I encourage other senior leaders to be part of this campaign for equality. In a male dominated world, the empowerment of women must be a key priority. Women’s rights are human rights – and attacks on women are attacks on all of us. Our world needs more women leaders. And our world needs more men standing up for gender equality."
Impact Groups
IGC has organized impact groups, led by Champions which channel sector knowledge in greater detail on Representation, Trade, Change Management, Disarmament, and Standards. On the occasion of the
World Trade Organization's Ministerial Conference in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
in December 2017, the IGC Trade Impact Group was joined by 120 WTO members and observers to issue the historic Joint Declaration on Trade and Women's Economic Empowerment, the first international declaration to explicitly link women's economic empowerment and trade.
Susana Malcorra
Susana Mabel Malcorra (born 18 November 1954) is an Argentine electrical engineer who served as foreign minister of Argentina from 2015 to 2017. She was announced for the position by President Mauricio Macri on 24 November 2015. Prior to that she ...
, who presided over the conference, called the Declaration a “great success… Collectively, we were able to recognize the key role women can play in a fair, just and sustainable international trade system. The fact that so many countries, both members and observers of the WTO, rallied behind women’s empowerment in this field signifies that not everything is lost.”
Events
In 2017 and 2018, Geneva's
Jet d’Eau was illuminated on International Women's Day with the turquoise of the International Gender Champions logo.
[“International Women’s Week,” International Gender Champions, https://genderchampions.com/events/international-womens-week]
References
{{reflist
Gender equality
2015 establishments