United Nations, Mar 8 ( Prensa Latina ) UN Women calls Friday to address ways the innovation can be allied with gender equality to improve public services and infrastructure aimed at them.

Innovation is reshaping the way people live in all parts of the world and we must deliberately act on its use to positively impact women's and girls' lives, said UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.

For those living in poverty, innovation is a key driver of development, a basic need and an enabler of rights, she said in a statement.

Besides, women and girls should have opportunities to contribute either to the design or implementation of solutions that affect their lives, and they are ready to do so, she said.

Public services, infrastructure and social protection require innovative approaches to meet the needs of women and marginalized people to increase quality and affordability.

Thus UN Women underlines and emphasizes the need to address the constraints they face when accessing such services as a result of their increasing domestic burdens and unpaid care work.

There are 740 million women currently earning a living in the informal economy with limited access to social protection, public services and infrastructure which could increase their productivity and income security, UN data show.

Women work 2.6 times more in domestic and unpaid care work than men, while globally, only 41 per cent of mothers with newborns receive maternity benefits.

Meanwhile, one in three women is likely to face violence throughout her life.

However, public services, urban planning and transport networks are rarely designed taking into account women's safety and mobility.

'Think Equality, Build Smart, Innovate for Change' is this year's theme for International Women's Day.

The Sustainable Development Goals are just over a decade away, including one on gender equality.

But UN statistics indicate that if current trends continue, it will take 108 years to close the global gender gap and 202 to achieve economic gender parity.