Vietnam looks to promote and protect women rights

The UN Women’s Executive Director and Chairman of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women highlighted the integral role of women in reducing poverty and promoting peace, security, and sustainable development.

Delegates noted women still suffer socioeconomic and political inequality despite this. They argued for the inclusion of women’s rights as an explicit target in the UN’s post-2015 agenda.

Vietnam’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) Ambassador Le Hoai Trung reiterated Vietnam’s dedication to advancing women and gender equality.

Since 2006’s enactment of the Gender Equality Law in 2006, the Vietnamese Government has continued to augment its women’s rights policies. The Law against Domestic Violence was adopted in 2007.

A 2011–2015 National Strategy and National Program on Gender Equality was endowed with a budget equivalent to US$47 million and is being implemented.

With support from the World Bank and UN Women in Vietnam, this year’s Vietnam Women’s Innovation Day was organised around the theme “Economic Empowerment and Capacity Building for Vietnamese Women”, promoting creative thinking and encouraging women who “act beyond existing predefined parameters and traditional interventions”.

This biennial program has provided some US$2.4 million in funding for 231 innovative projects run by women since its inception in 2003.

Women have always been active in Vietnamese political life. In recognition of the importance of gender sensitive leadership investment, the Centre for Women in Politics and Public Administration was launched last June. It will help leaders and civil servants promote gender equality both in their working environment and through their work itself, raising awareness regarding its indispensability to inclusive socio-economic development.

These Government efforts and the support received reaped tangible results. Seventy eight percent of all Vietnamese women are members of the labour force, representing 48 percent of Vietnamese workers, and the numbers are increasing. The literacy rate for women and girls stands at 92 percent. Female students account for more than 50 percent of total tertiary education enrolments.

In 2012, Vietnam’s gender equality index was ASEAN”s 3rd highest and 48th in the world. It was one of the five developing Asian countries with the highest percentages of female members of Parliament.

In Vietnam, a lawful certificate of land entitlement must bear the names of both the husband and the wife. Issues of gender, gender equality, and gender-based violence form part of the mainstream of all social discourse and policy-making.

The country still wrestles with challenges, including limited full time staff specifically working on gender issues, restricted budgets, and persistent gender-based income disparity. These issues are especially evident at the provincial level. Vietnam must work hard to overcome them as soon as possible.