24 May 1984

Meeting 19

Equal opportunity for women employed in the United Nations system

The Economic and Social Council,

Bearing in mind the long-standing commitment of the United Nations to the equal rights of women and men as expressed in the Preamble to the Charter of the United Nations and in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and, in particular, Article 8 of the Charter of the United Nations on the eligibility of men and women to participate in any capacity and under conditions of equality in the work of the Organization,

Concerned by the lack of progress towards increasing the proportion of women in the Secretariat, in particular the failure to reach by 1982 the target of 25 per cent of the total number of women in posts subject to geographical distribution which was set by the General Assembly in section III of resolution 33/143 of 20 December 1978,

Keeping in mind that the 25 per cent target should not be viewed as a limit on the number of women employed, and paying particular attention to those areas of the United Nations system where compliance with General Assembly resolution 33/143 has lagged,

Reaffirming section III of General Assembly resolution 33/143, section V of Assembly resolution 35/210 of 17 December 1980 and Assembly resolutions 37/235/B of 21 December 1982 and 38/231 of 20 December 1983, as well as resolution 24 of the World Conference of the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace, in which the Conference, inter alia, called upon the Secretary-General and the heads of the specialized agencies and other United Nations bodies to end all forms of discrimination based upon sex in the recruitment, promotion and training of women and to increase the proportion of women employed, particularly at the senior levels,

1. Requests the Secretary-General to implement the relevant recommendations of the General Assembly and the Joint Inspection Unit and, in particular, to promote the recruitment and hiring of women in Secretariat Professional posts at middle and high levels, whether as permanent, temporary or fixed-term appointees, or as experts and consultants;

2. Calls upon Member States to include the names of qualified women in lists of candidates nominated for appointment to advertised United Nations posts;

3. Requests the Commission on the Status of Women to consider at its thirty-first session strategies for the achievement of equal employment opportunities for women in the United Nations system on the basis of the reports prepared by the Joint Inspection Unit on the status of women in the Professional category and above and of any other relevant reports;

4. Requests the Secretary-General to invite, through the Administrative Committee on Co-ordination, organizations within the United Nations system to provide information to the Commission on the Status of Women at its thirty-first session on measures taken and results achieved in pursuit of equal opportunity for women within their organizations.