The Tipping Point: Why Women’s Leadership in International Decision-Making Spaces Can’t Wait

As CSW69 kicked off, a powerful message echoed through the halls of the Rockefeller Foundation: At a time when the global rule of law faces mounting threats, achieving women’s equal representation in international decision-making is more urgent than ever. This isn’t just about fairness—it’s a proven strategy for tackling today’s most pressing challenges. The Tipping Point: Why Women’s Leadership in International Decision-Making Spaces Can’t Wait—an event organized by the GQUAL Campaign—served as a pivotal moment to assess progress, confront persistent barriers, and chart the path forward.

María Noel Leoni, GQUAL co-founder and Campaign Director and Deputy Executive Director for the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), set the tone with a stark reality check. Thirty years after the Beijing Declaration affirmed that women’s rights are human rights, these principles face mounting resistance. Rising polarization, conflict, and backlash against the rule of law, human rights, and gender equality are undermining global governance at a time when it is needed most. As international institutions grapple with urgent crises—ranging from armed conflicts and climate change to unregulated technologies and widening inequality—women’s equal participation is not just a matter of justice. It is essential to making decisions that are both effective and legitimate.

Yet, the numbers reveal a stark reality. Many of the world’s most influential international institutions remain deeply unequal. María Noel Leoni underscored this imbalance, noting that as of 2023, 21 out of 54 international organizations—including the UN, the Organization of American States, and the International Labour Organization—have never been led by a woman. International justice spaces are no exception, and GQUAL was born to transform this specific reality. Still today, only 4 out of 10 UN Treaty Bodies have reached parity. At the UN Special Procedures, seven positions have still never been held by women. At the current rate, the International Court of Justice will not achieve gender parity until after 2050, with only six female judges compared to 109 men.