Female leadership in international organizations a research on the promotion of women's group interests

Abstract

The establishment of UN Women and the ever-increasing promotion of women’s interests by international organizations have led to the emergence of female leadership even in high executive positions. Such cases include the International Monetary Fund which appointed Christine Lagarde to the position of Managing Director, as well as UNESCO which elected a female as Director-General two consecutive times since 2009. However research based on gender leadership in international organizations remains inadequate with regard to female leadership and the promotion of women’s group interests. This particular matter is yet to be examined in depth, in order to study whether and how women in high executive positions foster women’s empowerment, opportunities and best interests or despite the presence of female leaders in international organizations these issues continue to be sidelined as by many male leaders. Based on the above the purpose of this paper is to shed light on the gaps in gender leadership of international organizations and specifically to examine the relationship between female leadership and the promotion of women’s group interests by international organizations through particular case studies.