Australia, World Bank support Vietnam’s data survey on gender

Hanoi (VNA) - The World Bank (WB) has signed an agreement with the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) to provide a non-refundable aid worth 740,000 AUD (563,000 USD) through the Australia-World Bank Group Strategic Partnership’s second phase to help Vietnam conduct a nationwide survey serving its gender policy making.

The survey is part of the economic empowerment project for Vietnamese women, performed by the General Statistics Office (GSO). It covers 6,000 men and women across the country to collect data on their daily time allocations.

Carolyn Turk, World Bank Country Director for Vietnam, said despite progress in improving gender equality in education, health, and economic empowerment, Vietnam still faces many persistent challenges in gender equality.

Developing a comprehensive gender database is important for monitoring gender gaps and designing effective solutions to the issue, she added.

Vietnam established a set of national gender development indicators in 2011, but nearly two-thirds of them are not classified by gender. Meanwhile, there are no indicators related to the use of time.

Measuring the use of unpaid time, such as the time spent on household chores, is important for measuring contributions of men and women in their families, and for understanding how investments and public policies affecting the use of time can reduce gender gaps in the labour market and promote gender equality.

Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Robyn Mudie said one of the main reasons why 40 percent of women are not engaged in the Vietnamese labour market is due to responsibilities of taking care of their families.

The survey will provide more data on the time for unpaid jobs and serve as a foundation for redistributing those fairly for equality and for the economy, she said.

Australia is pleased to support the Vietnamese Government and the World Bank Group in conducting this survey, the ambassador added./.