On April 24th, the International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ), in partnership with the GQUAL Campaign, co-hosted a webinar introducing the GQUAL Toolkit. María Noel Leoni, the GQUAL Campaign Director, spoke with Laura Nyirinkindi, the Chair of the UN Working Group on Discrimination Against Women, who provided a legal perspective on the barriers faced by women in international and multilateral spaces and touched on her personal journey as a candidate. As a young woman interested in multilateral spaces and international justice, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to listen in on the conversation between these two trailblazing women.
In her presentation, Ms. Leoni presented an overview of the GQUAL Campaign’s work in promoting gender parity in international and multilateral spaces. By tracking the makeup of 102 international and regional bodies, GQUAL seeks to identify barriers towards women’s participation in an effort to “break the glass globe”. GQUAL’s monitoring work reveals harrowing realities about women’s participation in international bodies.
Ms. Leoni’s presentation highlighted women’s underrepresentation in almost all international decision-making spaces, including international justice roles. Within international justice spaces, GQUAL’s work has shown that women are particularly underrepresented in highly prestigious judicial positions, particularly those where state nomination is a requirement. For example, only 6 out of the 115 judges in the history of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) have been women. Per Ms. Leoni, if ICJ appointments continue on as they have, gender parity will first be reached in 2050.
In spite of these inequalities, GQUAL’s work offers many reasons for hope. Thanks to the GQUAL campaign, women have made great inroads into male-dominated international decision-making spaces, especially in mandates where self-nominations are possible, such as the Human Rights Council’s (HRC) Special Procedures and Expert Mechanisms. Ms. Leoni explained that women are often excluded from these spaces because of a lack of transparency on available positions, requirements, and appointment procedures. GQUAL’s toolkit aims to demystify the candidate selection process in international bodies and inspire more women to apply for international positions. Although I am at the beginning of my career, I found the Toolkit to be extremely informative and revealed intricacies about the application process that I would not have ordinarily considered.
Still, these statistics reveal a greater problem preventing women’s participation in international spaces: the (in)actions of the member states. During the Q&A, Ms. Nyirinkindi explained that she decided to apply to an HRC Working Group because of positive encouragement from a member of her national government, who also suggested she consider nomination to the UN HRC. This type of support could be monumental for women who are interested in working in multilateral spaces but would not have independently considered nominating themselves. Despite the support of her national foreign ministry, Ms. Nyirinkindi felt unsure about the regional selection process of the HRC, which relies heavily on politicking and lobbying member states, and so did not go forward with an application to that body. Whether women are prevented from participating because of institutional gender bias or choose not to participate at all because of perceptions of the same, member states need to do more to encourage the active participation and nomination of women at all levels of decision-making.
Likewise, the insights of Ms. Nyirinkindi will certainly influence my professional development journey, as well as that of the other webinar participants. During the Q&A and the discussion itself, she touched on what she wished she had known prior to applying and during the application process itself. Notably, she encouraged would-be candidates to develop relevant skills well in advance, and to work on building a digital footprint that can be used as evidence of expertise during the application.
Ms. Nyirinkindi emphasized that her robust digital footprint–which, in her case, includes publications, recordings of speaking engagements, and media appearances–happened to be “pure luck”, as she did not know in advance that the application would emphasize evidence of public engagement over a traditional CV. Instead, she encouraged participants to proactively curate this type of digital visibility, recognizing that limited access to information technology might limit many activists from showcasing their accomplishments in this way. I am extremely grateful to Laura Nyirinkindi for her honesty and vulnerability in sharing her journey. These reflections are incredibly insightful, both for women at the beginning of their careers and for those who are considering applying soon.
Throughout the webinar, Ms. Nyirinkindi also emphasized that across regions and the globe, women experience different challenges that can work to prevent their participation in different ways. Whether these are societal gender roles and expectations, access to information technologies, familiarity with the UN system, or beyond, it is important to note that geography, language, economic standing, and other characteristics impact women in different, intersecting ways. Those hoping to advance women’s participation in global spaces must work towards uplifting all women through an intersectional lens that takes note of these different circumstances. As a young professional, I hope to do my part by sharing the lessons from this webinar with women in my own network who might not have otherwise had the opportunity to hear this incredible advice.
Finally, I am grateful to the IAWJ and GQUAL for hosting this webinar. This type of event serves as a space where participants can become familiar with the language of the UN and multilateral appointment procedures and offers the unique opportunity to connect with impressive women like María and Laura, who are working towards shattering the “glass globe”.