Stories
- Executive Director (340)
- Ending violence against women and girls (140)
- Deputy Executive Director, Intergovernmental Support and Strategic Partnerships (139)
- Gender equality and women’s empowerment (128)
- UN Women administration (126)
- 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (111)
- Peace and security (83)
- Commission on the Status of Women (78)
- Intergovernmental processes (73)
- Economic empowerment (66)
- Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (52)
- Show more
Monday, May 11, 2020
Around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic is exacerbating existing inequalities, including those based on sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics, with often-devastating impacts for LGBTIQ+ people, who are already among the most marginalized and excluded. The theme of this International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia and Transphobia – break the silence – calls our attention to these inequalities across the world and asks us to speak out together against the discrimination, restrictions on basic freedoms, and hate that LGBTIQ+ people face in the current context and beyond.
Statement: Get girls connected for equality
Thursday, April 23, 2020
In a statement for International Girls in ICT Day Executive Director of UN Women Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka urges governments not to leave behind the millions of girls in developing countries without access to the internet and remote learning opportunities.
Thursday, April 9, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic affects everyone, everywhere. But it affects different groups of people differently, deepening existing inequalities. Today we are launching a report that shows how COVID-19 could reverse the limited progress that has been made on gender equality and women’s rights – and recommends ways to put women’s leadership and contributions at the heart of resilience and recovery.
Violence against women and girls: the shadow pandemic
Monday, April 6, 2020
With 90 countries in lockdown and four billion people sheltering at home from the global contagion of COVID-19, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka highlights another deadly danger growing in the shadows: Violence against women.
COVID-19: Women front and centre
Friday, March 20, 2020
In a statement, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka calls on governments to recognize both the enormity of the contribution women make and the precarity of so many in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tuesday, March 10, 2020
In her remarks at the 64th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said: "We have created a world where women are squeezed into just 25 percent—one quarter—of the space, both in physical decision-making rooms, and in the stories that we tell about our lives. One quarter is not enough. Only half is an equal share, and only half is enough".
Friday, March 6, 2020
In her closing remarks at the UN's official commemoration for International Women's Day in New York, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said: "Together we will build the society that we want and together we will make the changes that we want to make. It is not yet time to rest. We have a lot of work to do".
Statement for International Women’s Day by Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
Wednesday, February 26, 2020
In her statement for International Women's Day (8 March), UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka calls 2020 the year for gender equality and calls on everyone to tackle the persistent barriers against gender equality.
Tuesday, February 18, 2020
In her closing remarks at the UN Women Executive Board first regular session of 2020, UN Women executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said: "Now is the time for giant steps. We just cannot afford baby steps anymore. It cannot be incremental change. We want change that is fast, but also it must be change that lasts. That is the caveat."
Speech: Impatient for change: Global action for gender equality
Friday, February 14, 2020
Opening remarks by Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, at the first regular session 2020 of the UN Women Executive Board, 14 February 2020.
Thursday, February 6, 2020
On this International Day of Women and Girls in Science, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka calls on everyone to harness the power of innovation and technology as drivers of change, and work together to empower all women and girls across the science fields.
Unleashing youth power: A decade of accelerating actions towards zero female genital mutilation
Thursday, February 6, 2020
Joint statement by UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem, UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore and WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on the occasion of International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation
Statement by UN Women on World AIDS Day, 1 December
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
The contribution of women and girls, particularly those living with HIV, is indispensable in the HIV response at the community level. Women and girls provide critical care for family and community members living with HIV, and help ensure they start and stay on treatment.
Monday, November 25, 2019
The United Nations is committed to ending all forms of violence against women and girls. These abuses are among the world’s most horrific, persistent and widespread human rights violations, affecting one in every three women in the world.
Monday, November 25, 2019
In her remarks on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka calls on everyone to make sure that we do not turn our backs on the millions of women and girls whose lives have been forever changed by rape and gender-based violence.
Monday, November 18, 2019
In her message for International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka says: "If I could have one wish granted, it might well be a total end to rape".
Commitment statement by UN Women at the ICPD@25 Nairobi Summit (12-14 November 2019)
Thursday, November 14, 2019
UN Women fully supports the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in putting “the rights, needs and aspirations of individual human beings at the centre of sustainable development”, noting the close alignment with the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. Women and girls must have full control over their bodies.
UN Women statement: Confronting femicide—the reality of intimate partner violence
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
We must get better at preventing violence from occurring in the first place and in supporting the women and girls who experience it. Those responses must prioritize the safety of women and girls and hold perpetrators to account for their actions. Above all, as societies, we have to recognize and adjust the unequal power relations that feed and permit these behaviours.
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
In her remarks at the UN Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said: "Progress is too slow, political will is not strong enough, and pushback against the needs and interests of women is threatening the progress we have made and pushing further away those who need the resolve and support most".
Statement by Alaa Salah at the UN Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Alaa Salah was selected to represent civil society at the UN Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security in October 2019. She spoke in her capacity as an activist, community leader, and member of MANSAM, and on behalf of the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security.