Highlighting Vietnam’s progress in promoting gender equality, Vice State President Nguyen Thi Doan said the country has one of the highest numbers of women parliamentarians among Asian nations. It also has the second largest number of female CEOs in ASEAN and 48 percent of the labour force is women.
The nation has designed and enforced a broad array of related legal documents and national programmes and strategies such as the Law on Gender Equality, the Law on Domestic Violence Prevention and Control, the National Programme on Gender Equality for 2011-2015, and the National Strategy on Gender Equality for 2011-2020.
NA Committee on Social Affairs Chairwoman Truong Thi Mai said Vietnam has actively participated in IPU forums in which it laid emphasis on gender equality and the role of women empowerment.
At the meeting, Vietnam’s important speeches covered issues on water resources management, cyber security and its views on the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action the Beijing Action Declaration 1995. Vietnam reviewed the achievements in the law making process, eradicating gender preconception, increasing the rate of women's participation in politics and offering opportunities for women and children to have access to education and healthcare.
At the IPU-132, Vietnam also mentioned the rate of women participating in politics. The IPU has suggested 30% of women proportion in people- elected bodies thus enabling them to make decisions and perform effectively their role as policy makers.
Vietnam’s current rate is 25% and the figure is expected to reach 30-35% in the time ahead.
Hang also underlined the importance of the role played by men in encouraging women’s involvement in social activities.
In their speeches, Vietnamese female leaders- Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan and NA Vice Chairwomen Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan and Tong Thi Phong signified clear-cut views of Vietnam on gender equality, women empowerment and the building of a better environment for women and girls.
NA deputy Bui Thi An, a member of the Vietnam delegation at the IPU-132, also applauded female deputies’ contributions to the legislative body’s operations aiming to turn words into action towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Regarding gender equality in Vietnam, An emphasized that Vietnam has made a breakthrough in this regard, in which women enjoy equal opportunities in all aspects of social life such as politics, culture, arts, education, particularly under the new Constitution (2013), women are equally entitled to get access to all stipulated services.
In recent years, the rate of women participation in politics has not been as much as expected but this has showed the great effort by all social and political organizations and Vietnamese women.
Vietnam has also actively pushed discussions on gender equality at the United Nations General Assembly, IPU and other bilateral and multilateral forums, contributing to the goal to end gender discrimination.
After the IPU-132 agenda, the country will make every effort to bring IPU programs and goals into life in line with the IPU’s theme: “Sustainable development goals: Turning words into action”.
