Power is not given, power is taken – UN chief

Agency report

The United Nations (UN) Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, has underscored the importance of women seizing the initiative in the struggle for gender equality.

The UN chief sad at a Town Hall meeting for civil society activists during the 63rd Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, that the central question of gender equality was a question of power.

He said, “We continue to live in a male-dominated world with a male-dominated culture. Power is not given, power is taken. We have to push back against the resistance to change because people do not like power being taken.

“We will only be successful if we are able to combine the institutional approaches, like the ones the UN develops, with the approaches at the civil society, the grassroots movements and the public opinion in general.’’