Buenos días. Permítanme darles la más cordial bienvenida a Madrid. Es un verdadero placer poder acompañarles en la inauguración de esta IIª edición del Diálogo Global Women Leading Voices, esta iniciativa que da continuidad al trabajo que GWL Voices realiza desde su fundación, en marzo de 2019; y que ha hecho que, en relativamente poco tiempo, haya conseguido proyectar una voz propia, sólida y consolidada, ampliamente reconocida a nivel internacional.
A partir de aquí, continuaré mi intervención en inglés.
It is a great pleasure to join you for this important dialogue, also given the prestige and distinguished careers of its organizers and participants. I am particularly glad to see some of you again, years after knowing each other and sharing quite a number of important moments and events during our different public responsibilities.
But, above all, I feel privileged and honoured to share today some briefing remarks at this opening session, in which I would like to highlight the importance of the ultimate goal you seek −a two-folded one, if I may add:
A) To ponder and reflect on the need for a greater role or participation of women in multilateral organizations and in any system of international governance at large (whatever its nature or mandate may be).
B) To reform and thereby strengthen multilateralism, or the multilateral system —especially now, when it is under a huge scrutiny and suffers a great deal of questioning.
The underlying assumption and assertion is that we need to advance further and faster in goal A, in order to be successful in achieving goal B. That is, to allow more effectiveness and better representation of the real nature and numbers of humanity, this system must necessarily draw on the talent and efforts of more women. Gender equality is a basic human principle, so it should equally influence and reflect representation in any international body of public or corporate governance.
Each generation must live with the multilateral framework of its time. Faced with that reality, however, it has two options: to, simply, let inertia carry it along, or to assume the responsibility of deciding how to improve it.
"...Gender equality is a basic human principle, so it should equally influence and reflect representation in any international body of public or corporate governance..."
And I believe we are here to discuss precisely that, to assume the responsibility of taking nothing for granted, and not giving up on our losses. A form of leadership that more faithfully reflects the realities of our world seems hardly like an unreasonable proposal or objective, and one of those realities, in particular, is the participation of women at the international level.
Women represent more than half of the world population and are growingly present in all spheres of political and economic life and in all social contexts. However, it is clear by your own reports that this does not yet correlate proportionally at the highest levels of multilateral decision-making bodies.
The 2025 edition includes very conclusive data from the year before. For example, since 1945, only 13% of the leaders of such organizations have been women, despite some noticeable progress in the composition of senior management teams .
At this year's dialogue, you will present the new edition of the report, with an up-to-date overview of the situation and new data, which will undoubtedly guide discussions and substantiate proposals for improvement.
At this point, I think it is pertinent to add that we also need to remind ourselves −and cry out-loud− that still today in many parts of the world, women continue to suffer tremendous discrimination and even legal limitations to their basic human rights.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Moving towards a more representative leadership is not a symbolic action, but an investment in the legitimacy of the system. Diversity in leadership offers a wider range of viewpoints, it enriches the decision-making process and fosters greater public trust in these institutions. In doing so, it ensures that these organisations are a true reflection of the women and men that conform humankind.
In a global environment marked heavily by polarisation and mistrust, these attributes are more necessary than ever.
For all these reasons, I wish you a frank, ambitious and productive dialogue. Because the times call for such a dialogue. Because we must not let inertia decide for us, and because we must shoulder-in our responsibility —and the talent is there.
Thank you very much.