Equality for Women is Progress for All
Executive Director
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka is Executive Director of UN Women. She was sworn into office on 19 August 2013. Bio
Photos
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka made her first
official country visit to Malawi from 6 to 9 October. Here, she greets
Lainess Soko, who is in charge of the Kanengo Victim Support Unit in
Lilongwe. View slideshow
Phumzile
Mlambo-Ngcuka was sworn in as Executive Director of UN Women by United
Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at 8:45 am on 19 August 2013.
Photo: UN Photo/Evan Schneider - See more at:
http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/directorate/executive-director/ed-bio#sthash.JeG7vJKC.dpuf
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women
Today we join the people of the world in celebration of the progress made for women’s rights, women’s empowerment and gender equality. We also acknowledge that progress has been slow, uneven and in some cases women and girls face new and more complex challenges.
International Women's Day is therefore also a day to recommit ourselves to working harder for gender equality, together as women, men, youth and leaders of nations, communities, religion and commerce.
If we act decisively, with the knowledge that empowering women and girls and supporting their full participation can help solve the greatest challenges of the 21st century, we will find lasting solutions to many of the problems we face in our world. Major challenges such as poverty, inequality, violence against women and girls, and insecurity will be addressed substantially.
Women spend the majority of their income on the well-being of their children and family. Raising women’s labour force participation increases economic growth. By ending women's poverty, we will sustainably and significantly reduce extreme poverty worldwide.
By keeping girls in school longer, with quality education we will empower young women to play their full role in society and build stronger families, communities and democracies.
By advancing equal opportunity and removing structural barriers to women's economic empowerment, we will reduce inequality and spur inclusive economic growth.
By supporting women’s equal representation in leadership positions in peacemaking, in communities, in politics, in business and in religious institutions, we will build a more just, peaceful and secure world.
By working with men and boys, and doing it together, we will engage humanity in a task that is a responsibility for all.
As we celebrate International Women’s Day, we remember and celebrate the women who, led by women in trade unions on this day more than a century ago, called for better working conditions, peace and bread. Their call is still valid today.
Given slow and uneven progress, we continue to call for change. And we pay tribute to the countless women around the world who are making change every day as they go about their daily lives.
Nearly 20 years after the Beijing Women’s Conference, and 15 years after the Millennium Summit, we look back with pride at the achievements that have been made. More women are working. More girls are in school. Fewer women die in pregnancy and childbirth. And more women are in leadership positions.
But no country in the world has achieved equality between women and men and girls and boys, and violations of the rights of women and girls are an outrage. So let us build on the lessons learned and the knowledge that equality for women is progress for all, and make greater and bolder progress as we work to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and chart a new post-2015 development agenda.
We can no longer afford to hold back half the world’s population. The 21st century has to be different for every woman and girl in the world. She must know that to be born a girl is not the start of a life of hardship and disadvantage. Together we must make sure that:
SHE is Safe and Secure from gender-based violence.
SHE has Human rights that are respected, including reproductive rights.
SHE is Empowered economically and in every way through Education, Equal opportunity, participation and leadership.
This is the SHE Imperative to which I call on you to commit.
Let us all cross the line and stand on the right side of history.
Today and every day, UN Women will stand strong for women’s rights, women’s empowerment and gender equality.
Equality for women is progress for all.
By Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women
United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women
Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka was
sworn in as Executive Director of UN Women by United Nations
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at 8:45 am on 19 August 2013. Photo: UN
Photo/Evan Schneider
From 2005 to 2008, she served as Deputy President of South Africa, overseeing programmes to combat poverty and bring the advantages of a growing economy to the poor, with a particular focus on women. Prior to this, she served as Minister of Minerals and Energy from 1999 to 2005 and Deputy Minister in the Department of Trade and Industry from 1996 to 1999. She was a Member of Parliament from 1994 to 1996 as part of South Africa’s first democratic government.
Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka began her career as a teacher and gained international experience as a coordinator at the World YWCA in Geneva, where she established a global programme for young women. She is the founder of the Umlambo Foundation, which supports leadership and education. A longtime champion of women’s rights, she is affiliated with several organizations devoted to education, women’s empowerment and gender equality.
She has completed her PhD on education and technology at the University of Warwick, United Kingdom.
- See more at: http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/directorate/executive-director/ed-bio#sthash.xGDswCI9.dpuf
Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka was
sworn in as Executive Director of UN Women by United Nations
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at 8:45 am on 19 August 2013. Photo: UN
Photo/Evan Schneider
From 2005 to 2008, she served as Deputy President of South Africa, overseeing programmes to combat poverty and bring the advantages of a growing economy to the poor, with a particular focus on women. Prior to this, she served as Minister of Minerals and Energy from 1999 to 2005 and Deputy Minister in the Department of Trade and Industry from 1996 to 1999. She was a Member of Parliament from 1994 to 1996 as part of South Africa’s first democratic government.
Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka began her career as a teacher and gained international experience as a coordinator at the World YWCA in Geneva, where she established a global programme for young women. She is the founder of the Umlambo Foundation, which supports leadership and education. A longtime champion of women’s rights, she is affiliated with several organizations devoted to education, women’s empowerment and gender equality.
She has completed her PhD on education and technology at the University of Warwick, United Kingdom.
- See more at: http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/directorate/executive-director/ed-bio#sthash.xGDswCI9.dpuf
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