UN Women lines up events for Women's Day

Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka, UN Under Secretary General and Executive Director, UN Women 

United Nations Women (UN Women) has lined up events for the forthcoming Women's Day 2019 at the UN headquarters in New York.

According to a UN women press release, this year's theme, "Think Equal, Build Smart, Innovate for Change," explores the ways in which innovation can work for gender equality, boost investment in gender-responsive social systems, and build public services and infrastructure that meet the needs of women and girls.

According to UN Women research, these thematic agendas are critical at a time when social innovations have the potential of providing unprecedented solutions to meet the needs of marginalized women and those at the bottom of the pyramid.

The research points out that 740 million women currently make their living in the informal economy with limited access to social protection, public services and infrastructure that could increase their productivity and income security.

What's more, women do six times more unpaid care and domestic work than men, with only 41% of the world's mothers with newborns receiving maternity benefits, and one in three women are likely to face violence in their lifetimes, yet public services, urban planning and transport systems are rarely planned with women's safety and mobility in mind

On March 08, the UN International Women's Day 2019 commemoration with UN officials, activists, and artistes will take place.

"This event is meant to identify innovative solutions led by the UN system and its partners to help advance gender equality and transform women's lives," reads the press release.

Some of the participants include UN Secretary-General António Guterres, María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, President, UN General Assembly and Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director, UN Women among others.

As part of a panel discussion on innovation and women's empowerment, Google is premiering the trailer of a new four-part virtual reality series about women's rights activists around the world.

The four films, produced by Google in collaboration with UN Women, are set to debut on International Women's Day both online and in a multimedia exhibit at the UN headquarters. The event also features musical performances by Drew Olivia Tillman, Indira Mahajan, Everett Suttle and Broadway singers.
 
What's more, UN Women will launch the She Innovates Global Programme in partnership with the Global Innovation Coalition for Change.

This afternoon event features incredible stories of innovation and impact and shares how one can get involved in the programme.
 
There is also a photo exhibition by UN Women in the UN Visitors' lobby starting today March 06 to  March 27.

For the first week of the exhibition, from March 8-15, the exhibition will also host the screening of four Virtual Reality films on women's rights defenders, Courage to Question, produced by Google in collaboration with UN Women.