On 4-7 March 2018 SRSG Natalia Gherman participated at the first meeting of Female Heads and Deputy Heads of UN Special Political and Peacekeeping Missions, organized in New York by the Departments of Peacekeeping (DPKO), Field Support (DFS), and Political Affairs (DPA).

The event coincided with the week of International Women’s Day on 8 March.

The participants included 14 currently serving and three designated Heads and Deputy Heads of Mission who shared perspectives on their experiences as leader in their current roles in the field, what it means to be a woman leader in today’s world, and how can gender parity be sustained and serve as a catalyst to gender equality. This initiative is aligned with the Secretary-General’s “System-Wide Strategy on Gender Parity”. At the meeting with the Secretary-General, the participants discussed the challenges of leadership in field settings and shared constructive suggestions to improve the effectiveness of UN peace operations. The Strategy to achieve gender parity at Head and Deputy Head of Mission level forms part of the wider organizational strategy and includes targets for the proportion of women serving in these positions until 2021.