Stories
Friday, September 18, 2020
To mark the first International Equal Pay Day, the Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC) called all leaders to take necessary steps to ensure pay equity is at the heart of COVID-19 recovery efforts worldwide.
COVID-19 and its economic toll on women: The story behind the numbers
Wednesday, September 16, 2020
While everyone is facing unprecedented challenges, women are bearing the brunt of the economic and social fallout of COVID-19. Here’s how COVID-19 is rolling back on women’s economic gains of past decades, unless we act now, and act deliberately.
Explainer: Everything you need to know about pushing for equal pay
Monday, September 14, 2020
Workers around the world look forward to payday. A paycheck may bring a sense of relief, satisfaction, or joy, but it can also represent an injustice—an expression of persistent inequalities between men and women in the workplace. Take a closer look at the gender pay gap and what can be done to close it.
Wednesday, September 2, 2020
The pandemic will push 47 million more women and girls below the poverty line, reversing decades of progress to eradicate extreme poverty.
Press release: Global leaders and companies pledge to reduce the gender pay gap by 2030
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
Global leaders from governments, private sector companies, trade unions and civil society pledged to take concrete action towards closing the gender pay gap by 2030. The global commitments—to ensure women in every sector of the workforce are paid equally to men for doing work of equal value—were made at the Equal Pay International Coalition pledging event held during the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Wednesday, January 31, 2018
The Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC) was launched in Latin America and the Caribbean, to mobilize multiple actors in different countries to reduce the wage gap between women and men, which is around 15 per cent in the region, according to data released at the presentation in the capital of Panama.
Economies that work for women, work for everyone
Monday, January 22, 2018
The future we want rests on freeing women’s power and potential. The numbers tell a compelling story: If women played an identical role in labour markets to that of men, as much as US$28 trillion, or 26 per cent, could be added to the global annual Gross Domestic Product by 2025.
Press release: Powerful global coalition to boost equal pay for women at work
Monday, September 18, 2017
With the launch of the Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC), the International Labour Organization (ILO), UN Women and the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) are bringing together a diverse set of actors at the global, regional and national levels to support governments, employers and workers and their organizations, and other stakeholders, to make equal pay between women and men for work of equal value a reality.
Media Advisory: Two events today at the 61st session of the Commission on the Status of Women
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and IPU Secretary-General Martin Chungong will launch today at 12.30 p.m., the 2017 edition of the Women in Politics Map. The Map, co-produced by IPU and UN Women since 2000, includes the latest global data on the rankings of women in politics at executive and parliamentary levels of governments. This afternoon, the Commission on the Status of Women will symbolically mark the global gender pay gap, when it will interrupt its work at 4.10 p.m., when there is 23 per cent of the work-day left.
Press Release: Activists, celebrities and governments call to end global gender pay gap
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Today, at a packed event in the UN General Assembly in New York, champions of equal pay took centre stage, putting forth a clarion call to end the global gender pay gap that stands at 23 per cent. The event launched the high-profile Equal Pay Platform of Champions, a diverse group of advocates to amplify and galvanize mobilization—as part of a broader ILO-UN Women Global Equal Pay Coalition—calling for equal pay for work of equal value. The event at the UN was hosted by UN Women in partnership with ILO, and co-sponsored by the Missions of Iceland, South Africa and Switzerland, coinciding with the opening day of the 61st Commission on the Status of Women, the largest inter-governmental forum on women’s rights and gender equality, which is focusing this year on the theme of “Women’s Economic Empowerment in the Changing World of Work”.
Media Advisory: Equal Pay Platform of Champions launch event and photo opportunity
Friday, March 10, 2017
On Monday 13 March, UN Women and ILO will launch the high-profile Equal Pay Platform of Champions, bringing together activists, celebrities and governments, including Oscar-winning American actor Patricia Arquette, Olympic gold medalist and soccer star Abby Wamback, trade union leaders and activists, aiming to bring the issue of equal pay for work of equal value to the forefront.
Take Five: At the current rate of progress, no equal pay until 2069
Friday, February 24, 2017
Across the world, women still get paid 23 per cent less than men. Chidi King, Director of the Equality Department of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the main international trade union organization representing the interests of working people worldwide, and a member of UN Women and ILO’s Equal Pay Champions initiative, unpacks the issue.
From where I stand: Abby Wambach
Tuesday, July 26, 2016
Abby Wambach, a sports icon and two-time Olympic Gold Medalist and FIFA Women’s World Cup Champion, speaks out against pay inequality.
“Gender equality is everyone’s business” — Lakshmi Puri
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Remarks by UN Women Deputy Executive Director Lakshmi Puri at the Forbes Second Edition of the Powerful Women Summit in Mexico on 21 June.
Wednesday, June 15, 2016
On the fifth anniversary of the convention concerning decent work for domestic workers, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka highlights the importance of implementing the convention in reaching more equal, gender-responsive labour markets and societies.
“Pay inequality matters” — Executive Director
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Keynote address by UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka at the Equal Pay State Launch event with Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne on 6 June in Ontario.
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
In an op-ed for Equal Pay Day in the USA, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile-Mlambo Ngcuka emphasizes the need for urgent and effective action to tackle the gender pay gap and reduce unpaid care work for women and girls.
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
The UN Global Compact and UN Women organize the Women’s Empowerment Principles Annual Event
UN Secretary-General announces first-ever High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Eminent experts to highlight the interactions between economic growth and gender to galvanize political will and leadership to implement the Sustainable Development Goals.
“Through sport we can teach some of life’s biggest lessons about equality” — Executive Director
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Address by UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka at the International Olympic Committee Women in Sport Commission Annual Meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland on 10 November.