United Nations Commission on the Status of Women

And you go to Vienna and they pride themselves on what they call the spirit of Vienna.

There's some parts of ECOSOC that sometimes vote, but there are certain parts, some part, like look what in the recent CSW, I don't know how closely you followed it, but up until the very end, there was one country that was saying that it was not going to go along with consensus.

And if that happens in ECOSOC, If there is not agreement from every single member state, then that document is withdrawn and it's not voted upon.

And people don't really understand the importance of consensus in the decision-making process at the UN.

Mm-hmm.

And so, you know, I was bringing a lot of these insights to conversations like, uh, like the ones we were having at the Commission on the Status of Women in New York, the largest UN convening on gender equality.

And, you know, people were really pushing me to say, you know, it doesn't just ma- the skills don't ma- skills aren't the only thing that matters.

Like, women's ability to participate-

women are disproportionately in roles that are likely to be disrupted by AI.

And so I was bringing a lot of these insights to conversations like the ones we were having at the Commission on the Status of Women in New York, the largest UN convening on gender equality.

And people were really pushing me to say, skills aren't the only thing that matters.

Women's ability to participate in the AI economy is important and it matters, but are women really leading? in the AI economy? And so I was like, fair point.

Rupal Patel is the author of the business bestseller From CIA to CEO.

As an international speaker, consultant and board advisor, she delivers leadership programs for Fortune 500 companies, serves as entrepreneur-in-residence at London Business School and is a delegate to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.

In this conversation, we explore what it takes to walk into a high-pressure room and hold your own, what really builds trust in a team when the stakes are high, and the surprising difference between fear in a war zone and fear in everyday leadership.

Here's my conversation with RuPaul.

That was one of the issues highlighted by a minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Minister Sindisiwe Chukunga, following when she was launching the GBVF Council.

Now, I was there and I asked her a question because I know that Minister Chukunga had represented the South African delegation at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, the CSW Commission.

So I asked her, Minister, all of the work that you've done in the UN with the CSW, how is that sort of relating with the formation and the work of this council? That is the question that I put to the minister at the press conference.

And here is what she had to say.