08 March 2016 - “As they grow up, girls must be exposed to a broad range of careers,” says UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka on International Women’s Day celebrated across the world today.

The theme for International Women’s Day 2017 is Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030, #BeBoldForChange, a call on the world to help forge a better and more gender inclusive working world.

According to the United Nations, the world of work is changing, with significant implications for women. “On one hand, technological advances and globalisation bring unprecedented opportunities for those who can access them. On the other hand, there is growing informality of labour, income inequality and humanitarian crises.”

Reflecting on the theme of the day; Ms. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, acknowledged that across the world, too many women and girls spend too many hours on household responsibilities—typically more than double the time spent by men and boys.

“They look after younger siblings, older family members, deal with illness in the family and manage the house. In many cases this unequal division of labour is at the expense of women’s and girls’ learning, of paid work, sports, or engagement in civic or community leadership.”

She noted that the kind of work women are involved in “shapes the norms of relative disadvantage and advantage, of where women and men are positioned in the economy, of what they are skilled to do and where they will work.”

Ms. Phumzile encouraged women and girls to make choices that lead beyond the traditional service and care options to jobs in industry, art, public service, modern agriculture and science.”

“This will take adjustments in parenting, curricula, educational settings, and channels for everyday stereotypes like TV, advertising and entertainment; it will take determined steps to protect young girls from harmful cultural practices like early marriage, and from all forms of violence.”

Meanwhile, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says, “Empowering women and girls is the only way to protect their rights and make sure they can realise their full potential.”

“We want to construct a different world of work for women,” said Phumzile. “We have to start change at home and in the earliest days of school, so that there are no places in a child’s environment where they learn that girls must be less, have less, and dream smaller than boys.”

Phumzile said Women and girls must be ready to be part of the digital revolution.

“Currently only 18 per cent of undergraduate computer science degrees are held by women. We must see a significant shift in girls all over the world taking STEM subjects,” she said, stressing that “if women are to compete successfully for high-paying ‘new collar’ jobs. Currently just 25 per cent of the digital industries’ workforce are women.

Listen to UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka’s speech for International Women’s Day here.