As secretary-general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon put women’s empowerment at the top of his global agenda. But with his second term coming to a close, one significant advance for women can’t be made until after his term ends in 2016.

Nearly a quarter of its member states are urging the U.N. to select a woman to succeed Ban as the organization’s ninth secretary-general, The Associated Press reported. Despite that the U.N. has significantly ramped up efforts for gender equality with the launch of U.N. Women in 2010 and He for She last year, a woman has never been openly considered for secretary-general in the organization’s 70-year history. The secretary-general is tasked with advocating on behalf of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged people in the world—including women, who, last we checked, account for about half of the global population.

The call for more female representation at the top of the U.N. comes at the same time as Hillary Clinton is campaigning to become the first female president of the United States. But unlike the U.S. presidential election, the U.N.’s process for selecting a secretary-general occurs largely in secret: Deliberations for whom to nominate for election by the General Assembly are made privately by the U.N.’s Security Council. None of its five permanent members—China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States—has signed the document stating that “the time has come for a woman to hold the [U.N.’s] highest position,” according to the AP.

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So, Why Should You Care? While this may be the first time such a campaign has gained momentum within the U.N.—it reportedly originated with a female ambassador from Colombia—outside activists have long advocated for a woman to fill the organization’s top post. In 1996, the women’s rights organization Equality Now launched its “Time for a Woman” campaign, aimed at appointing a woman to succeed Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt. The job went to Kofi Annan of Ghana, but as soon as his tenure came to a close roughly a decade later, Equality Now re-upped its efforts. The gig went to Ban, then Korea’s minister of foreign affairs and trade, in 2007.

The secretary-general may serve an indefinite number of five-year terms, though none has served more than two, which has made 10 years the unofficial maximum period of service in the post. With Ban’s tenure coming to an end in 2016, activists from Equality Now are again urging people to send letters to the members of the U.N. Security Council to select a woman as the next secretary-general.

“The movement for equality means ensuring that we send strong messages from the top,” Antonia Kirkland, Equality Now’s legal adviser, said in a statement sent to TakePart. “Women’s rights are in jeopardy globally, but a female [secretary-general] would be an important part of a global solution.”

To help the U.N. fill the post of secretary-general, Equality Now has put together a list of 14 potential candidates from among the current and former members of the secretary-general’s senior management team, including Zainab Hawa Bangura, the U.N.’s special representative on sexual violence in conflict, from Sierra Leone; Valerie Amos, a British citizen born in Guyana and the former U.N. humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator; and Rima Khalaf of Jordan, executive secretary of the economic and social commission for Western Asia.