Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka is the United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women.

She began her career as a leader in South Africa and an activist in the struggle against apartheid. She was part of the women’s movement that organized for women’s rights ensuring that they were enshrined in the new Constitution of a free South Africa. She became a member of Parliament and Deputy Minister in the Mandela administration. Subsequently, she was appointed Minister of Minerals and Energy and fought against blood diamonds, and then Deputy President, working on the fight against HIV/AIDS and coordinating efforts between the private sector, civil society and government to tackle poverty and education issues.

Named the most influential person in gender policy around the world in 2018, she is a global advocate and influencer. She is a member of the G7’s Gender Advisory Council. Under her leadership, the groundbreaking High-level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment convened by the UN Secretary-General in 2015 highlighted key policy issues for concerted action including the over representation of women in the informal sector, unpaid care, and the harmful gender norms and stereotypes that constrain progress.

Through coalition and movement building among global leaders in public and private sectors, and with civil society, she is driving the role of women in leadership, and ending discrimination and violence against women and girls.

She has a PhD in education and technology from the University of Warwick, United Kingdom.