As the months progress before the election of a new United Nations Secretary-General at the end of 2016, we will be rolling out a series of biographies of outstanding women to demonstrate the depth and richness of talented and experienced women in high-level positions from all regions of the globe.  We understand there is a precedent that a UN Secretary-General has not come from a permanent-five (P-5) member state.  However, we would be remiss if we did not identify some outstanding women who happen to come from a P-5 country.

The most frequently used excuse for not selecting women for top positions is that there are not enough qualified women to choose from:  No More Excuses!