A Vietnamese delegation led by Vice State President Truong My Hoa is attending the Global Summit of Woman (GSW) in Cairo, Egypt, from June 10-12, as an honourary co-chairwoman.

The presence of the Vietnamese delegation affirmed the State’s special attention to promoting gender equality between men and women and the advancement of women in such areas of politics, economics and society. It is also a chance for Vietnam to highlight Vietnam’s achievements and determination to implement the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the MDG for women in particular.

GSW was established in 1990 and based in Washington, the US, with the aim of promoting women’s role in politics, economics, culture and society in each country and the world to create a network and seize opportunities, particularly in business, and promote South-South co-operation among women.

The annual summit draws the participation of female delegates, who are State and Government leaders, ministers, and from organisations and leading business groups in the world. Since its inception, 15 such summits have been held, with the first taking place in Montreal, Canada, in 1990. Nearly 1,000 delegates attended the 2004 summit in the Republic of Korea and the 2005 summit in Mexico.

The 2006 summit will continue to discuss practical experiences to promote the advancement of women in economic development, contributing to realising the third Millennium Development Goal.

The third Millennium Development Goal, which was approved by 189 heads of State at the 2000 UN summit, is entitled: “Promote gender equality and empower women”. Accordingly, UN member countries were committed to eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005 and at all levels by 2015.

Vietnam has obtained significant achievements in this area, particularly in increasing women’s position and role in education, labour and employment. More and more Vietnamese women get involved in leadership and management. Vietnam’s gender development index increased markedly from 0,668 in 1998 to 0,689 in 2004. Disparity in the proportion of schoolboys and schoolgirls at all levels has narrowed, with schoolgirls making up 46.8 percent of the total. The gap is expected to be removed before 2015. Vietnam is leading Asian countries regarding the number of female parliamentarians, which increased from 17.8 percent in the 1987-1992 tenure to 27.3 percent in the 2002-2007 tenure.  

In addition to these achievements, there remain several shortcomings in implementing the MDGs in Vietnam. They include the education accessibility of girls and ethnic women in mountainous and far-flung regions. The number of trained female workers is also much lower than that of trained male workers.

Given the fact that the deadline for the implementation of MDGs is already one third passed, it’s hoped that the 2006 summit will draw practical experiences to promote women’s role in all aspects of life, helping the third MDG to be completed ahead of the schedule.