IPU-132 promotes gender equality, women empowerment
(VOV) - On March 28, as many as 200 women parliamentarians gathered in Hanoi for the 21st Meeting of Women Parliamentarians as part of the 132nd Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU-132).
Those in attendance included National Assembly (NA) Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung, NA Vice Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, IPU President Saber Chowdhury and IPU Secretary General Martin Chungong.
In his address, the Vietnamese top legislator said gender equality and women empowerment has been Vietnam’s consistent policy and guaranteed by Vietnam’s Constitution and the Law on Gender Equality.
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The proportion of women parliamentarians in the Vietnamese legislative body in the last four terms has been approximately 25%, adding that the NA has contributed significantly to Vietnam’s and the IPU’s goal of gender equality.
IPU President Saber Chowdhury said, “Gender sensitive parliament is one of the primary focuses of the IPU. This year is also the 30th year of the women parliamentarians that we are going to meet here. We want to encourage more women to participate in politics. We want to see more women elected as members of parliament. We want to see more women in important ministerial positions and of course in sustainable development goals that we are hopefully going to adopt. IPU continues to press for a goal which is on women empowerment.”
In her statement, NA Vice Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan who is also the President of the 21st Meeting of Women Parliamentarians described the event as a venue for female members of parliament to meet and examine ways to boost cooperation between parliamentarians groups and promote equality between men and women in their cooperation in all fields.
Ngan also emphasized the role played by women law-makers in promoting gender equality to intensify their involvement in IPU activities and member parliaments.
Ngan expressed a wish that from the topics of the agenda, participants would share experience to turn voluntary commitments into legal binding regulations thus enabling women to enjoy equal benefits as a result of the development.
She said she hopes these female parliamentarians will be an important factor in realizing national legislation on gender equality in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Beijing Platform for Action and achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) towards turning sustainable development goals into action in the time ahead.