The woman poised to become the New Zealand head of UN Women says it's shameful that no women from the Pacific are on the board of the new United Nations agency.
UN Women has been formed by bringing together a number of agencies to give a stronger voice to women's issues on the international stage.
Rae Julian says the Pacific is lumped in with Asia which has ten seats on the board but none is from a Pacific country.
She says with Pacific nations shut out of the board it's easier to ignore the claims of women in this region.
"The board is the governing structure, so the board is the group who approve the policies, who provide guidance generally to the direction, who ensure that the voice of women is covered in their own regions, but how are ten people from Asia going to be representative of the Pacific."
