The appointment of Amina Mohammad from Nigeria as the next Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations is welcomed by the global community. Perhaps, someday soon, women will be chosen to become Secretary-General, thereby becoming one of the most powerful civilians on Earth. Women will play a pivotal role in the next decade.
Over the long sweep of history, women have been and, will be, a pacifying force. As mothers, women have evolutionary incentives to maintain peace and harmony. Their skills and traits are on the rise. During the next 20 years, the male-dominated patriarchy will gradually come to an end.
Within the next five years, the global economy will be run by women. By 2050, women legislators in the US will wield immense political power. In a report in 2014 in The Guardian, research reveals that violent conflicts would likely decrease by 24 per cent if women were more involved in peacebuilding processes. According to the World Bank, in 2015 women made up 49.55 per cent of the global population and, according to the Harvard Business Review, women control 20 trillion dollars in annual consumer spending.
If we desire to urgently navigate through the next world order, then we need to bravely elevate a new paradigm of power involving women. We need decisions to be predicated on sustainability, not brutal military adventurism. A woman’s farsighted and strategic vision could bring stability in this corrupt and war torn world. Women are a force to be reckoned with from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to the UN. Their skills and talents have a potentially exponential reach. Let us salute our women in 2017.
— The reader is a freelance writer based in Johannesburg, South Africa.
