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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

U.N. Official An Advocate For Women Everywhere

Colleen O'Connor Dallas Morning News

Rosario Green has a huge job on her hands: protecting rights for the world’s women - from women revolutionaries in Eritrea to women experiencing sexual harassment at the United Nations.

“I never thought something like this would be part of my responsibilities,” says Green, recently named the first coordinator of all women’s issues in the United Nations system.

“There’s not a huge backing here for women’s issues, but I’m willing to voice these concerns,” she says.

The Mexican diplomat, who has served at the United Nations almost three years, knows what it’s like to be a woman with an international career dominated mostly by men. A divorced mother of two children, she knows the challenges of juggling career and family, moving with her children from one foreign assignment to another.

Today, she’s the highest-ranking woman in the U.N. Secretariat, assistant secretary-general for political affairs. New responsibilities include fighting for women’s rights in an organization that’s composed mostly of men - many of whom, she says, resent her new position.

“I’m committed to do this, regardless of the consequences,” she says.

The job is a direct result of the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing last September, when delegates - confident they’d created the most comprehensive international plan on the status of women - decided they didn’t want their work forgotten. The job’s responsibilities range from working conditions at the United Nations to the role of women in U.N. programs around the world.

Her role is not to diminish “the many qualities of my male colleagues,” she says. “I’m just concentrating on enhancing the female contribution.”

So far, this hasn’t increased her popularity with many male colleagues. “I create a lot of pressure, with the secretary-general’s backing,” she says.

“Where managers at the United Nations decide to abolish jobs, I make sure that women are not hit disproportionately. I also put on pressure for promotion, because sometimes women are not promoted as men are. Men find that very difficult to accept.”

Women have 35 percent of midlevel professional posts; the goal is 50 percent.

“The problem is how to bring more women into the highest positions,” she says. “It’s more difficult.”

Few women work in the Secretariat, where Green works. Fewer are in the top diplomatic ranks - just seven women head foreign missions.

“What the U.N. preached outside about the status of women didn’t happen inside,” she says bluntly. “They sort of overlooked the situation. The gap is there, and it’s going to take awhile to close.”

Colleagues describe her as tough, outspoken, elegant and self-possessed. Says New York Times U.N. reporter Barbara Crossette, “She’s universally respected.”

Juan Carlos Brandt, a spokesman for Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, believes some of her success is rooted in such skills as “great intellect and great diplomacy.”

“She comes from a country that’s traditionally not seen many women in positions of great authority and power,” says Brandt, who is from Venezuela. “That she’s had such positions tells you something about the caliber and kind of woman she is.”

One of Green’s first challenges was to create a sexual harassment policy. Just creating a definition of harassment in the multicultural organization is hard, she says.

“You have to deal with the fact that in many countries, screaming and pushing around is a day-to-day kind of practice. It’s not considered to be harassment at all.”

Raising the status of women in this multicultural organization doesn’t end with sexual harassment. Even if sexual harassment can be eradicated, observers say that’s just the beginning.

“The other stuff is harder,” says Crossette. “Like a lack of respect for women’s judgment or for women in authority. There are very few women in authority, which is why her job as assistant secretary-general for political affairs is almost more important than her position in women’s affairs.”

Green’s primary responsibility is as adviser to the secretary-general on European and Western hemispheres, traveling the world with him to attend meetings. She’s passionate about her new role.

“Do we believe that what is the gain of one gender is the loss of the other gender?” she asks, talking about equality in the 21st century.

“Couldn’t we think of some game where everybody gained? Couldn’t we think of a better society where men and women are fully incorporated?”