Michelle Bachelet, UN Chief candidate: Time for a woman to lead

Michelle Bachelet, UN Chief candidate: Time for a woman to lead

From The Interview by BBC World Service

August 30, 2026 · 23 min

About this episode

Michelle Bachelet discusses her candidacy for UN Secretary General and the need for female leadership in the organization.

“For 80 years, we only have men [lead the UN] and I think it is not about women because she is a woman … The idea is a woman because she has the experience, the leadership, the capacity, the knowledge, the ability to do things that need to be done…So I hope that that will be something that members could understand that it will be fantastic. But, to be honest, I'm not sure that every country is ready for that.” James Copnall speaks to Michelle Bachelet, a former President of Chile and one of the world’s most prominent human rights advocates. Bachelet made history as Chile’s first woman president, serving two terms before going on to become the United Nations high commissioner for human rights. Now, she is one of the candidates vying to become the next secretary general of the United Nations, a position never held by a woman since the organisation was founded in 1945. With the UN facing growing pressure to reform, Bachelet says the organisation needs to adapt to a changing world, become more effective and better reflect the people and countries it represents. She also argues that it is time for a woman to lead the United Nations, after eight decades in which the top job has been…

People in this episode

Host: James Copnall

Guest: Michelle Bachelet

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: United Nations, BBC World Service

Places: Chile

More episodes of The Interview

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The Interview podcast page.