Wow! What a week. I just spent the past week at the United Nations headquarters in New York City attending as a first-time delegate to the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women.

The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) provides an opportunity for leaders in gender equality and women's empowerment to influence the UN agenda. It's the largest annual gathering of the international women's movement at the United Nations. It's amazing!

The Commission is instrumental in 1) promoting women's rights; 2) documenting the realities of women's lives throughout the world; and 3) shaping global standards on gender equality and the empowerment of women. Ultimately it's about quickening the progress to ensure our rights in public, political and economic life. Sounds good, right?

I was very excited to have this opportunity attend. While I knew I wouldn't have an "official voice" in presenting to the Commission (only one representative from each NGO can present to the Commission), I still had a mission in being there.

Having been a reporter at the U.N. General Assembly a few years prior, I was well aware that the U.N., as an organization, has its own issues with gender equality, particularly when it comes to women's representation in senior leadership and decision-making positions.

I knew that the General Assembly made a commitment 20 years ago, in 1996, to 50/50 gender parity in leadership at the U.N. by year 2000. They did not make that goal.

Almost each year since, they have re-affirmed this commitment. And guess what?

They have not even gotten close.

Today, women hold just 21 percent of the senior leadership positions at the U.N.

Last year, when I became a Leadership Ambassador with Take The Lead Women, a non-profit organization committed to creating gender parity across all sectors by 2025, my initial thoughts were that I wanted to bring this work inside of the U.N. At the time, I had no idea how the dots would connect. I just knew that the U.N. is where I felt drawn, and of course, where this work is desperately needed.

The great thing about the Take The Lead trainings is that they are focused on preparing, developing, inspiring and propelling women to take their fair and equal share of leadership not in the typical "climbing the ladder" way, but instead, by changing the power paradigm within the organization, and providing the women with 9 Leadership Power Tools, rooted in the new power framework, to advance their careers. Cool, right?

*Happy Hour with my Take The Lead Women colleagues after at day at the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women. L to R: Elisa Parker, Tabby Biddle, Jennifer Manuel, Gloria Feldt, Regina Huber.*

So, knowing that the U.N. has been stymied for years in how to reach their stated goal of 50/50 gender parity in senior leadership and decision-making positions, I thought this Commission was a very good time to start moving forward with my desire to build a partnership with Take The Lead Women and U.N. Women to help the U.N. General Assembly accelerate their progress to their stated commitment of 50/50 gender parity in leadership.

It may or may not surprise you to know that this year's Chair of the Commission on the Status of Women was a man.

What???!!

Yes, it's Ambassador Antonio de Aguilar Patriota of Brazil. Now as wonderful as he is, I really could not get over the fact that the U.N. would have a man lead this Commission. It felt absolutely tone deaf to me.

Then, much to my surprise, on the first day of the Commission - it got even worse. The first four speakers to address the Commission on the Status of Women were men! One after the other. Twenty-five minutes in, I had not yet heard the voice of one woman.

I must admit that my blood was boiling.

Whaatttttt??? How in the world did they get away with this? Who thought of this? Why didn't UN Women do something about this? Could they have been compliant? Yikes!

By the fifth speaker, finally a woman came to the podium. It was Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Under-Secretary and Executive Director of UN Women. Everyone clapped and cheered for her. It was a relief to have her take the stage and finally hear from a woman.

.

*Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women*

Thankfully, from there onward, it was all women who spoke.

To be clear, I don't have a problem with men speaking at the UN Commission on the Status of Women. We need them as our allies and partners. I do, however, have a problem with a man leading the Commission, and four men being given the podium before any woman. It felt horrifying to me.

Instead of getting pouty, it fired up my passion

to do something about this.

So, when I had an opportunity to approach Ambassador Antonio de Aguilar Patriota, the Chair of the Commission, I did.

I'm proud to share that after introducing myself and thanking him for his work on behalf of women, I asked him, with all due respect, why the Chair of this Commission is a man?

He smiled and was friendly and said that next year it will be a woman. More specifically, a woman from Ireland. He said that they are switching back and forth, and that having a man as the Chair is to show that men are allies and advocates for women's empowerment and gender equality.

My opinion on this is that in theory this makes sense, but experientially it does not.

I will tell you that the energy in the room was fairly non-engaged when the men were speaking, and then when the Executive Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, spoke, the women lit up and it felt like the Commission on the Status of Women finally started.

Later that evening, I finally got to meet Phumzile. I have admired her from afar for awhile now, and it was such a treat to finally meet and talk. I asked her how can Take The Lead Women partner with the UN to help them meet their 50/50 gender parity goal. Yay!

Women Leaadership Coach Tabby Biddle and Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women at the launch of the U.N. Equal Pay Platform for Champions. — Women Leaadership Coach Tabby Biddle and Phumzile *Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women at the launch of the U.N. Equal Pay Platform for Champions.*

The wheels are now in motion and is meeting is being set up to discuss this further. I will share more with you as things develop.

In the meanwhile, I want to share with you some "snapshot" moments of some other activities this week at the UN:

Tabby Biddle in the U.N. General Assembly Hall

Getting ready for the launch of the Equal Pay Platform at the UN, hosted by UN Women, Iceland, South Africa, Switzerland and the International Labour Organization.

Representative from Iraq gives powerful argument about how sexual violence and harassment in the workplace is an impediment to women's economic empowerment and the advancement of women. She and I connect afterwards with a smile and thumbs up. Beautiful sisterhood moment.

Representative from Niger speaks about how the normalization of domestic abuse, rape and violence in the home in her country are an impediment to women's economic empowerment and their advancement.

*Taking a lunch break and visiting with my good friend Connie Vasquez, New York City lawyer.*

The Commission on the Status of Women is still going. There is a second week of meetings next week. At that time, the Commission will come to their conclusions on how to best implement policies to accelerate progress toward the UN's goals for gender equality and women's economic empowerment. I will follow this and keep you up to date!

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Tabby Biddle, M.S. Ed., is a women's rights advocate, women's leadership coach and Leadership Ambassador with Take The Lead, a non-profit organization committed to supporting women to take their fair and equal share of leadership across all sectors by 2025. Learn more at tabbybiddle.com.

Tabby Biddle at the United Nations