IAEA Board of Governors Meeting
Statement by H. E. Mr Richard Sadleir, Resident Representative of Australia to the IAEA
GROUP OF FRIENDS FOR WOMEN IN NUCLEAR
Agenda Item 7(b) (ii): Personnel Matters, Women in the Secretariat
13-17 September 2021
Thank you Chair.
Australia is pleased to deliver this statement on behalf of the Group of Friends for Women in Nuclear, a group founded to support the IAEA in increasing to parity the representation of women in the Secretariat. The Group is co-chaired by Australia, Mexico and the Philippines, and is comprised of 36 Member States.
In view of our time constraints, the full version of this statement will be posted on GovAtom.
Chair
The Group thanks the Director General for his report on “Women in the Secretariat”, and is pleased to note several positive developments in support of the Director General’s goal to achieve gender parity in the Professional and higher categories in the Secretariat, by 2025, including the following:
• The increase in the percentage of women in the Professional and higher categories to 35%, as well as the increase in the percentage of women in appointed candidates to 53.1%, bringing us closer to our goal of parity;
• Increased efforts to recruit highly skilled women candidates for vacant positions;
• Inclusion of gender analysis as a mandatory requirement for project design, as part of the preparation of the Agency’s Draft Programme and Budget 2022-2023;
• Development of gender mainstreaming training and the provision of gender tools for Secretariat personnel; and
• The closing of all recommendations issued by the OIOS in its 2017 Evaluation of Gender Mainstreaming in Agency Programmes and Operations.
We wish to especially highlight the long-term vision of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship Programme, which has already supported the first cohort of fellows from all regions and is in the process of preparing for its second cycle. We look forward to monitoring the trajectory of participants and the impact of the programme on the involvement of women in the nuclear sector.
These are strong accomplishments Chair. But there is still more to be done. While we appreciate that the percentage of women in the DDG category has increased to 40%, we also note that the percentage of women in the D2 category has significantly decreased to 16.7%. And while the percentage of women in the administrative field is high at 45.2%, the percentage of women in the scientific and engineering field remains low at 27.4%. The Group remains of the view that true gender parity should be across all positions, categories and fields.
Chair,
The Group looks forward to the adoption of a resolution on “Women in the Secretariat,” to be tabled during the upcoming 65th General Conference, which requests the Secretariat to take further actions to implement the Agency’s Gender Equality Policy and to continue reporting progress in this regard. We encourage delegations in a position to do so to consider co-sponsoring this important resolution.
Finally, Chair, we take this opportunity to invite delegations who share our vision on gender equality to join the Group of Friends for Women in Nuclear. If you would like to join, please make your interest known to one of the Group’s Co-Chairs.
Thank you.