Qatar at forefront of promoting women's representation at global level

A prominent diplomat has hailed Qatar for its efforts to encourage women's representation in diplomacy and international relations.

“Qatar has been at the forefront of promoting women's representation at the global level,” said ambassador Androulla Kaminara, inaugural Distinguished-Diplomat-in-Residence at Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q).

She was speaking to Gulf Times on the sidelines of GU-Q’s ‘Gender in Foreign Policy’ Hiwaraat conference, which discussed the role of gender-informed strategies and gender diversity within international institutions to drive better and more equitable foreign policy and outcomes.

“Qatar has been the key promoter of the idea of the UN having its first woman secretary general. Qatar has been active in the initiatives to ensure the presence of more women in the UN General Assembly,” she noted adding that several such initiatives are spearheaded by Qatar at the global level. “These are very important and Qatar has a competent representative in the UN,” she explained.

She called for efforts to give women the possibility to be at the table of international relations and diplomacy. “Let them express their opinions and listen to them. If that takes place, the condition will be improved. The selection should be based on excellence not based on gender,” she said.

Kaminara, who noted the presence of women in UN agencies and governments is too low, said the condition is improving and better.

“The scenario is getting better, but is not fast enough,” she said. Despite evidence that women's full participation makes peacebuilding much more effective, the number of women in decision-making roles is falling, she said.

“At the current rate of change, achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will take 170 years, including SDG 5 - gender equality, integral to all SDGs,” she said.

“There are challenges. But, things are getting better. We still have to talk about the issue. Women should be given better allocation. Some countries are allocating quotas for women to make the changes fast. Whatever the means change needs to happen,” she said.