Helvi Linnea Aleksandra Sipilä (née Maukola; 5 May 1915 – 15 May 2009) was a Finnish diplomat, lawyer and politician.

She was known as a promoter of women's rights, and was the first-ever female Assistant-Secretary-General of the United Nations.

When Sipilä was appointed Assistant-Secretary-General in 1972, 97 per cent of United Nations senior management (D1 and above) was male.

As a UN Assistant Secretary-General, she was in charge of the Center for Social Development and Humanitarian Affairs from 1972 to her retirement from the post in 1980.

[2] In 1982, Sipilä became the first woman to run for President of Finland, as a candidate of the Liberal People's Party.