Biography
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka is Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of UN Women.
She has devoted her career to issues of human rights, equality and social justice.
Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka has worked in government and civil society, and with the private
sector, and was actively involved in the struggle to end apartheid in her home country
of South Africa. From 2005 to 2008, she served as the first woman Deputy President
of South Africa, overseeing programs to combat poverty and bring the advantages of
a growing economy to the poor, with a particular focus on women. She was a Member
of Parliament from 1994 to 1996 as part of South Africa’s first democratic government.
In 2014, she launched HeForShe, a global effort to engage men and boys in removing
the social and cultural barriers that prevent women and girls from achieving their
potential, and thus together positively reshaping society. In 2016, she delivered
a Presidential Lecture on gender equality at Stony Brook University, an Impact Champion
for the HeForShe solidarity movement.
