GWL Voices Signs Open Letter on UN80: Centering Gender Equality in UN Reform

GWL Voices has endorsed the open letter “UN80 Must Strengthen Gender Equality: An Open Letter to the UN Secretary-General,” joining organizations and advocates from around the world in calling for gender equality to be placed at the heart of the UN80 reform process.

As the United Nations approaches its 80th anniversary, Secretary-General António Guterres has launched a reform initiative that could shape the UN’s future and effectiveness for decades to come. For GWL Voices, this is a critical opportunity to ensure that the rights, leadership, and lived realities of women and girls are not sidelined, but centered.

GWL Voices was founded to contribute to a more effective and fit for purpose international system by amplifying the global voices of women with experience in multilateral leadership. GWL Voices members know from experience that meaningful change within the UN system depends on sustained commitment to gender equality and women’s representation in leadership—not just in words, but in structure, resourcing, and power.

That’s why we support the four proposals outlined in the letter:

• Strengthening the UN’s gender equality architecture, especially the role and mandate of UN Women.
• Safeguarding gender-focused institutions in any cost-saving reforms.
• Ensuring gender expertise and civil society have a seat at the table in the UN80 process.
• Protecting and building on gains made through the Gender Parity Strategy.

The current sociopolitical moment calls for renewed leadership and bold vision. For GWL Voices, advancing a UN reform grounded in women’s perspectives is one of our core strategic priorities. We believe that lasting transformation in multilateralism must be inclusive, and representative. That is why we join this collective call to ensure that UN80 becomes not only a moment of institutional reform, but a turning point for gender equality across the entire UN system.