--- title: Helen Clark Becomes Fourth Woman to Run for U.N. Top Job description: New Zealand's former Prime Minister, Helen Clark, is now vying with three female candidates to become first female U.N. Secretary-General canonical: https://time.com/4281653/helen-clark-united-nations-secretary-general-un-female-women/ author: Nash Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-05T03:27:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T16:27:29.477Z article:section: World og:title: Helen Clark Becomes Latest Female Candidate for Top U.N. Job og:description: She is one of four women vying to be Secretary-General. og:url: https://time.com/4281653/helen-clark-united-nations-secretary-general-un-female-women/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt92ac29cc17ca0c1c/69888dab8e060125214654c3/gettyimages-488997464.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Helen Clark, Administrator of the United Nations Development og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Helen Clark Becomes Latest Female Candidate for Top U.N. Job twitter:description: She is one of four women vying to be Secretary-General. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt92ac29cc17ca0c1c/69888dab8e060125214654c3/gettyimages-488997464.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # There Are Now Four Women Vying to Become the First Female U.N. Secretary-General by [Nash Jenkins](/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Apr 5, 2016 3:27 AM CUT  Helen Clark, administrator of the U.N. Development Programme and candidate for the job of U.N. Secretary-General, during a press briefing on the launch of the Millennium Development Goal Gap Task Force Report 2015 at the U.N. headquarters in New York City on April 4, 2016 Helen Clark, administrator of the U.N. Development Programme and candidate for the job of U.N. Secretary-General, during a press briefing on the launch of the Millennium Development Goal Gap Task Force Report 2015 at the U.N. headquarters in New York City on April 4, 2016Pacific Press/LightRocket/Getty Images by [Nash Jenkins](/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Apr 5, 2016 3:27 AM CUT The government of New Zealand has [nominated](http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c%5Fid=1&objectid=11616826 "undefined") the country’s former Prime Minister, Helen Clark, for the role of Secretary-General of the U.N. She becomes the fourth female candidate for the U.N.’s top job, alongside UNESCO’s Bulgarian head Irina Bokova, former Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic and former Moldovan Foreign Minister Natalia Gherman. If any of the four are chosen to succeed current Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is opting not to [pursue](http://www.firstpost.com/world/after-ban-ki-moon-heres-why-the-next-un-secretary-general-should-be-angela-merkel-2454732.html "undefined") an unprecedented third term, they will be the first woman to hold the position. Clark, who currently heads the U.N. Development Programme, said in a statement that to be nominated by New Zealand’s government was a “great honor,” the _New Zealand Herald_ reported. “It is an extremely challenging position but I’m used to that,” she said of the Secretary-General job. “My whole adult life has seen me progressively stepping up to leadership challenges.” Clark’s entrance into the race will place additional pressure on the selection committee to appoint a woman, the _Guardian_ [reports](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/05/helen-clark-former-new-zealand-prime-minister-confirms-bid-for-united-nations-top-job "undefined"). Four months ago, prominent U.N. officials penned a joint letter to the organization’s 193 member states specifically calling for the nomination of female candidates for the Secretary-General spot. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4281653/helen-clark-united-nations-secretary-general-un-female-women/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4281653/helen-clark-united-nations-secretary-general-un-female-women/"},"headline":"There Are Now Four Women Vying to Become the First Female U.N. 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