Ecuador's Minister of Foreign Affairs, María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, is the fourth woman in the 73-year history of the United Nations to be elected President of the General Assembly, the UN's main deliberative and decision-making body.
Addressing the delegates, she dedicated her election to "all women in politics" who face attacks from the media and other politicians, "marked by discrimination and machismo".
There have been only three other female Presidents of the General Assembly. In 1953, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit of India, in 1969, Angie Brooks of Liberia and in 2006, Haya Rashed Al Khalifa of Bahrain.
The UN's 193 member states are all represented in the General Assembly, and work together on a wide range of international issues. Each September, world leaders gather for the annual General Debate.