Susana Malcorra Hosts IGP Career Talk on Women in Multilateral Leadership Roles

“Give yourself the opportunity to reinvent yourself. You discover opportunities you never expected.” That is the principal advice of SIPA’s Institute of Global Politics’ Carnegie Distinguished Fellow, Susana Malcorra. She has led a number of prominent companies, as well as Argentina’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and held senior positions with the World Food Program and the United Nations, leading the Secretary-General's Executive Office. She is now the founder of GWL Voices for Change and Inclusion, an organization that advocates for women in the multilateral system.

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On September 17th, she joined a conversation focused on bringing more women into public service with over 30 IGP Student Scholars and SIPA Adjunct Assistant Professor Phoebe Donnelly, who is the head of the Women, Peace, and Security Program at the International Peace Institute.

Ms. Malcorra is used to feeling a stranger in positions where women were rare, starting off her career as an engineer. Her path to public service was spurred by the setbacks she faced, removed as CEO of Argentina’s third-largest company, Telecom Argentina, after difficult financial conditions. “Failure doesn’t hurt,” she told students. “Failure makes you stronger if you learn and recognize it.” She turned towards the United Nations after headhunters selected her for senior positions in the World Food Program, and she rose to play a pivotal role leading United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Executive Office.

Later, she became Argentina’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and was among the final contenders for the position of United Nations Secretary-General. However, the job went to yet another man.

With seven women and six men vying for the top job, she saw the decision as symptomatic of a broader problem across the United Nations and national governments. Undeterred by failure, she founded GWL Voices for Change and Inclusion with fellow women world leaders former Prime Minister Helen Clark of New Zealand and former Foreign Minister of Bulgaria and director-general of UNESCO Irina Bokova to strengthen women’s position in multilateral organizations, from the United Nations to regional development banks.

She has centered her campaign around three objectives.

• First, the next United Nations Secretary-General should be a woman. The election is just around the corner in 2026, which means the coming year is crucial.
• Second, she advocates for change in gender composition in regional organizations, such as the Organization of American States, and national governments. 
• Finally, she is devoting significant energy to push back against national laws that strip women of rights they once held, such as protection from violence.

Replying to a Colombian student who asked what made this campaign different from previous ones, she advocated mobilizing civil society in each country of the Permanent Five members to pressure their election decision. However, she fears that the need for re-election makes Secretaries-General less ambitious in creating change, which erodes trust in the multilateral system. “I think it would be better if there were no re-elections, but that we extended the term of the Secretary-General another year or two.”

In a concluding question, a Chinese student asked how she balances all aspects of her life. She emphasized having a partner who is truly a partner and public policy that helps with childcare. Ultimately, “you are the one who gives, who gives up the things that bring them pleasure to support everything. It takes a lot from you, so the career you pick has to be worth it.”