IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano became a Gender Champion this week at the launch of the Vienna chapter of the International Gender Champions initiative.

The initiative is a leadership network bringing together female and male decision-makers to break down gender barriers and provides a platform for stronger action to promote gender equality.

Mr Amano, who during his tenure at the IAEA has seen a seven percentage point?increase in representation of women at the IAEA, has pledged to appoint more women in senior IAEA leadership positions. “Women are playing essential roles at the IAEA," he said.?"Today the representation of women is much higher than before, and we have programmes and initiatives in place to increase that further.”

Mr Amano also invited Member States to send more capable women to attend IAEA related activities such as training and fellowships.

The Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV) and head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Yury Fedotov, the heads and leaders of the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) are also supporting the initiative.

The launch of the Vienna chapter of the International Gender Champions Initiative on 14 June 2017?follows Geneva and New York, and was led by the Permanent Missions of Slovenia, Costa Rica and the United States.