Sima Sami Bahous has been Jordan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations since August 2016. She was appointed as Executive Director for UN Women in September 2021.
Bahous received a bachelor’s degree in English literature from the University of Jordan, a master’s degree in literature and drama from the University of Essex and a PhD in communications and development from Indiana University. Her dissertation was entitled “Communication Policy and Planning for Development: The Jordan Television Corporation: A Case Study (1988).”
Bahous was head of communications at UNICEF in Amman from 1994 to 1995 and a development advisor at the World Health Organization in Sanaa from 1996 to 1997. She returned to Jordan in 1997 to serve as Executive Director of the King Hussein and Noor Al Hussein Foundations until 2001, before becoming head of media and information at the Royal Hashemite Court and an advisor to King Abdullah.
Bahous also served as head of the Higher Media Council in Jordan from 2005 to 2008. From 2008 to 2012 she was Assistant Secretary General at the League of Arab States in Cairo.
From 2012, Bahous served as Assistant Secretary-General for the United Nations Development Programme and Administrator and Director of the UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Arab states. In August 2016, she was appointed as Jordan’s Permanent Ambassador to the United Nations in New York, replacing Dina Kawar who was appointed as Jordan’s ambassador to the United States.