Participants in the meeting in Hanoi on October 21 pose for a photo (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Participants at a meeting in Hanoion October 21 discussed gender-related issues and the media’s awareness in thisregard, highlighting the role of the press in addressing gender inequality.
The event, held by the Ministry of Labour,Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA), the ASEAN Secretariat and the UN Women,was part of a series of activities on the sidelines of the 3rd ASEANMinisterial Meeting on Women in Hanoi.
It was reported at the meeting that as 74percent of ASEAN’s population has accessed the internet via mobile phones, anurgent need at present is raising the media’s awareness of gender-relatedissues and solving gender biases that negatively affect women and girls.
Deputy Secretary General of ASEAN for ASEANSocio-Cultural Community Kung Phoak said the media plays an important role inaddressing gender inequality. The important thing is that women are depictedpositively in the media, and girls can realise that they are a strong factor ofchanges. It is even more important that men can consider women an equal partnerwith leadership capacity.
Pham Ngoc Tien, Director of the MOLISA’sDepartment of Gender Equality, emphasised that considering men and boys as a factorof changes in solving gender biases is still important to the fight for genderequality.
The meeting aimed to realise the ASEAN Committeeon Women’s goals of improving the awareness of gender equality among mediaworkers, aside from agencies working on women-related issues.
The committee said it pledges to continueintegrating gender equality into other ASEAN agencies, especially those workingon communications, information, culture and arts such as the ASEAN SeniorOfficials’ Meeting Responsible for Information and the ASEAN Senior Officials’Meeting for Culture and Arts.
At the event, singer Hoang Bach, the ambassadorfor the HeForShe campaign in Vietnam, shared his experiences while holding thispost. –VNA
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