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UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 25-- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday asked the international community to match words with action over the empowerment of women for the sake of peace and security. There is a significant gap between what we say and what we do over the issue, Guterres told a high-level Security Council debate on women, peace and security. "Every year, we make laudable commitments -- but they are not backed with the requisite financial and political support. We repeat statistics about the sustainability of inclusive peace processes -- but that is not how we mediate most conflicts," he said. "We extol the positive influence of women peacebuilders -- but provide little space for their participation. We rely heavily on women's organizations -- but do not fund them adequately. We recognize the importance of gender analysis -- but cut the budgets for such expertise." He promised a series of measure to address the gap in the coming year, including having more women peacebuilders, promoting women's role in mediation and more funding on gender equality in the peace and security pillar. Gender parity has the greatest potential impact on effectiveness and credibility in UN field operations. But this is where the numbers are lowest, and the rate of change is slowest, said Guterres. Women now comprise 41 percent of heads and deputy heads of UN peace operations -- more than ever before. But the number of women in peace operations overall has stagnated, he said. "Without decisive action, they will go backward as some missions are downsized." | 
