Speech: Where others see the intractable, we see the possible

I also thank our dear Jean-Luc Bories, Secretary of the Executive Board, and his exceptional team. Once again you have made possible a productive and effective session with diligence and expertise whether on the podium or beyond.

And I thank Member States for your engagement, your perseverance, and your partnership. I mean that not only in the context of this session. Many of you spoke warmly of the collaboration we have at national level between your governments, civil society, and people at national level, and the results we achieve together. We could not value that partnership with you more highly, particularly in those crisis contexts where the rights of women and girls are most acutely under threat.

It is a testament to our partnership and collaboration that we have been able to adopt five substantive and impactful decisions during this session. Each is a further step forward for our entity. Together they make UN Women and our shared work stronger in key areas: the budget we work to, funding our mandate, effective financial management, effective governance, and across all of this a new Strategic Plan laying out the results we will deliver over the 2026–2029 period.

That plan, our shared plan, will be our North Star. It reflects the unprecedented consultation that drove its formulation and articulation. I have emphasized accountability as a priority of my leadership and our accountability to the plan will be clear and unswerving. And I have heard your emphasis on continuing to build on the normative and coordination results of the plan, and we will.

My ask to you in return is that you hear our call for the resources to make it possible. You have emphasized that we must continue to make the strongest possible case for resources, in particular regular resources—and we agree. We have heard your call to diversify our funding sources: we agree also. But this does not change the fact that we look, necessarily, to you first and foremost to afford us the resources we need to deliver the plan you have tasked us to deliver. This is true of both the level of resources as well as their quality.

I ask that there not be a disconnect between the welcome and vocal political support for our work on the one hand and the corresponding financial support on the other. That serves neither UN Women nor Member States, but more importantly it denies women and girls around the world the benefits of this mandate.

You have also been clear on your expectation that UN Women ensures that UN system reforms, notably UN80, are pursued with gender equality as a consistent priority in all their aspects. I assure you again that this is what we have done, what we will do, and ultimately what I am confident the UN and the Secretary-General will deliver. I look forward to your continued guidance and collaboration in this regard.

I must say that it is unfortunate that it has not been possible to always achieve consensus in this session, but the fact remains that those issues on which there may be disagreement are outweighed many times over by those on which we can agree; and that our commitment to the mandate of UN Women, to the cause of equality, is shared and valued by all. I very much hope that in future sessions this can be the spirit that guides our decision-making, and I look forward to working with you all to this end.

Before the new Strategic Plan comes into force, we also have much to do. At the UN General Assembly, UN Women will, as always, play its fullest part in putting gender at the heart of deliberations. While the High-Level Meeting on Beijing+30 will be the cornerstone of this, gender equality and the rights of women and girls must pervade every aspect of the General Assembly’s work.

I call on you all here to champion our shared mandate throughout your interventions and engagements at the General Assembly. We must ensure that our attention to, and efforts for, gender equality do not end in this room but rather begin in it.

Lastly, I thank you for your kind words and strong support for my reappointment.

I will reiterate that it is the personnel of UN Women who make this position the most rewarding of any I have held. Their energy, commitment, and expertise is unparalleled, and all of us here owe them a debt of gratitude.

We know fully well the world we live in, one beset by war, a failing climate, growing inequality, and the urgent need to make sense of new technologies so that they serve rather than harm humanity. What distinguishes those of us who rally around this mandate and institution is that, where others see the intractable, we see the possible.

We know what happens when men and women share power and decision making, when men and women contribute equally to economies, when women and girls are not brought down by violence or the evils of conflict and crisis and instead play their fullest part in our human family.

We imagine an equal future, one that benefits us all, that offers better for our children and their children. We work to bring it about because women and girls have been denied too long.

Allow me to thank you again for your efforts here at this session. I look forward to everything we will do, together, going forward.

All the best.