Trailblazing Indian Women: Decades of Leadership at the United Nations

 Ritika Das

(The writer can be contacted at ritikadas108@gmail.com.)

Once, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres remarkably said, “When we exclude women, everyone pays the price; when we include women, the whole world wins.” The current wave lingering around the world is the wave of gender equality. In all walks of life, women are solidifying their position and their relevance in whatever work they decide to do. Many international organizations and many countries are trying to provide a gender-friendly workplace where both genders are given an equal share of leadership opportunities. India is also not far behind in this race, especially when it comes to the UN. Today, the UN stands on the pedestal of ensuring collective dialogue and international peace among its member countries. But it does not limit itself to the aforementioned roles alone.

Over the past few decades, it has significantly broadened its vision and goal to accommodate what is called ‘gender equality’. Whether it’s the establishment of the UN Women Peacekeeping Force, conducting UN Women Conferences in the late 20th century, establishing a separate entity called UN Women, or even the introduction of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), where the main focus has been gender equality, the UN has made multiple efforts towards women’s empowerment and ensuring a just and humane society for all. But, amidst all these initiatives and actions taken, India takes one of the leads when it comes to the strong presence of women leaders in the UN. Even before India got its freedom, it was one of the important founding members of the United Nations Charter. And since then, India has continuously exercised its influence at the UN in some way or another. Within a few years of its independence, India was offered membership of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in 1950. It also actively deploys its army to the UN Peacekeeping Forces and lobbies for peace and stability in many war-torn areas. But over the years, the biggest asset for India has been its women leaders, who have showcased their leadership qualities in different areas of the UN. Whether it’s diplomacy, the military, or even becoming a strong voice for the country, Indian women have been up there in the UN whenever they were needed.

It was through Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit that India got an early opportunity to flaunt its women power in the UN. Firstly, she led the Indian delegation to the UN from 1946–53. And then, in 1953, the UN elected her as the 8th President of the UN General Assembly. Herein, she was not only the first-ever Indian to hold such a prestigious position, but she was also the first woman ever to do so. Further, in 1978, she was also appointed as the Indian representative to the UN Human Rights Commission. At a time when the country was still pulling itself out of the stretches of colonial dominance and figuring out its stand in the international arena, this was the perfect launchpad for India as a global power. Another prominent female figure in the UN was Hansa Jivraj Mehta. A great freedom fighter and one of the few female leaders in India’s constituent assembly, she was the only female on the UN Commission on Human Rights besides Eleanor Roosevelt. She actively vouched against the usage of the word ‘man’ in the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) draft.

While the word ‘man’ tried to refer to both genders universally, Mehta felt that it would be wrongly perceived that the charter only catered to the needs of one gender. As a result, later, the draft was amended to mention “human persons’’ and “equality of men and women’’. Further, other women leaders like Begum Shareefa Hamid Ali represented India at the UN Commission on the Status of Women in 1947. Subsequently, another Indian woman leader, Lakshmi N. Menon, was nominated as a member of the Indian delegation to the United Nations. She also headed the Commission on the Status of Women during 1949–50. It was due to these initial important opportunities that today, after seven decades of being a part of the UN, India has been continuously able to fulfill its pledge to encourage its women leaders to represent the country in major global affairs.

If we observe the recent activities of Indian women in the UN, the foremost example is its UN Women-led Peacekeeping Force. The military relationship between India and the UN has been flourishing since the beginning of the UN’s establishment. More than 2,00,000 Indians have served in 49 of the total 71 UN peacekeeping missions since 1948. And within this, Indian women have played a very significant role. Back in 1960, women in the Indian Armed Forces, serving in the medical service were interviewed by UN Radio before being deployed to the Republic of Congo. Later, in 2007, India became the first country to deploy an all-women contingent to a UN peacekeeping mission in Liberia. Recently, India again created history by sending the single largest all-women platoon to the UN, consisting of two officers and 25 other ranks. They are currently deployed in Abyei, a disputed zone between South Sudan and Sudan. While we refer to the Indian female leadership contingent in the UN, we cannot forget IPS officer Dr. Kiran Bedi, who served as the UN’s first police advisor. She bashed society’s general stereotype that professions like the military and police are male-dominated bastions. Along with this, India has also been fairly fortunate to have some meticulous women leaders who have, over the years, duly represented India’s voice in the UN. One such instance is that of IFS Sneha Dubey. When Pakistan’s ex-PM, Imran Khan, raised the issue of Kashmir and the scrapping of Article 370 while addressing the UN General Assembly, India’s now advisor for sustainable development and once Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations, Sneha Dubey gave a befitting reply and quoted, ‘We call upon Pakistan to immediately vacate all areas under its illegal occupation’, hinting that Jammu and Kashmir, along with Ladakh, ‘were, are, and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India’.

But recently, the most celebrated achievement in regard to fostering women’s leadership has come through IFS officer Ruchira Kamboj. After the glorious stint of Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, it has been almost seven decades since another woman leader belonging to India secured a strong position in the UN. Mrs. Kamboj has been serving as India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations since August 2022. She became the first woman to represent India at the United Nations. Previously, she was posted as a counsellor at India’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations from 2002–2005. She was also India’s Ambassador to UNESCO Paris in 2014. It was under her then-three-year stint that three Indian sites were added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List, a never-accomplished hat trick by any country. Conclusion: India has a rich legacy of being a prestigious member of the UN. Even if it is not one of the permanent members of the UN, India’s views and especially its stand on global issues are highly regarded. When it comes to its women leaders, a strong female voice on such a prestigious global platform helps all the issues related to gender equality and gender discrimination come to the forefront. This is especially true for India, which is inhabited by a huge population, and a significant part of that population is women. All the Indian women, who hold significant positions in the international forums, only provide inspiration and courage to all the other women to aspire and climb up to a similar feat.