Women’s voices at UN General Assembly few, but growing

By MALLIKA SEN
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Only five women addressed the United Nations General Assembly in the first half of its session this year. That number is set to more than double Friday, when three female vice presidents and five prime ministers are expected to speak. Despite women making up a small fraction of speakers thus far, this year’s session is on track to express better gender representation than last year. Nine women spoke in 2020. Friday will also see speeches from leaders of countries experiencing internal and external turmoil, like Cyprus and Lebanon as well as Pakistan. The “right of reply” function will also kick in at night.