Only 46.9 percent of rural women have full-time employment while the remainder do casual jobs, such as housework and farming, Institute of Labour Science and Social Affairs director Nguyen Thi Lan Huong said on Mar. 7.
Huong was speaking at a meeting in Hanoi , held in response to the 56th Commission on the Status of Women – "The empowerment of rural women and their role in poverty and hunger eradication".
Women in rural areas do not have stable jobs because they have not received vocational training. As many as 92 percent of them do not have any skills at all and only 1.4 percent graduated from university, said Huong.
The average wage of a female rural labour is 1.9 million VND (90 USD) per month, which is only 72.7 percent of the average wage of female urban labourers.
About 10 percent of them have an average income of 350,000 VND (16.60 USD) per month.
"Because of their hard lives, rural women, especially the poor, often had to encounter risks, illness and disease," Huong said.
The most of rural women are overworked as they have to shoulder both production and reproduction at the same time.
The consequences are that not only their health fails, but it also influences their pregnancy and maternal functions, which affects the next generation.
"Women also struck several obstacles to accessing social security benefits," Huong said.
The barriers are their constraints in awareness and knowledge, gender inequality among rural people, inferiority complexes – more noticeable among the poor and disabled women – and a slowness to adapt to social change.
To improve social security for rural women, the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs will pilot an employment market information system at commune level through the internet, commune cultural houses and central and local radio and television programmes, including those broadcast in ethnic minority languages, said Huong.
It will also organise temporary employment programmes for unemployed or under-employed women in rural areas and focus on health care for children and pregnant women, especially ethnic minorities and those in remote areas.
Support policies for the 2011-15 period will also be introduced, and cover part of voluntary insurance premiums for poor women, she said.
Meanwhile, United Nations resident co-ordinator Pratibha Mehta said improving rural women's lives is a key priority of the UN country team in Vietnam .
"Our efforts include working with the Vietnam Women's Union to empower women to cope with natural disasters and increase the role of women in disaster risk reduction and management," she said.
Over the next five years, the UN will invest around 40 million USD in gender equality and women's empowerment programmes, double what it spent from 2006-11, Pratibha said.-VNA
Huong was speaking at a meeting in Hanoi , held in response to the 56th Commission on the Status of Women – "The empowerment of rural women and their role in poverty and hunger eradication".
Women in rural areas do not have stable jobs because they have not received vocational training. As many as 92 percent of them do not have any skills at all and only 1.4 percent graduated from university, said Huong.
The average wage of a female rural labour is 1.9 million VND (90 USD) per month, which is only 72.7 percent of the average wage of female urban labourers.
About 10 percent of them have an average income of 350,000 VND (16.60 USD) per month.
"Because of their hard lives, rural women, especially the poor, often had to encounter risks, illness and disease," Huong said.
The most of rural women are overworked as they have to shoulder both production and reproduction at the same time.
The consequences are that not only their health fails, but it also influences their pregnancy and maternal functions, which affects the next generation.
"Women also struck several obstacles to accessing social security benefits," Huong said.
The barriers are their constraints in awareness and knowledge, gender inequality among rural people, inferiority complexes – more noticeable among the poor and disabled women – and a slowness to adapt to social change.
To improve social security for rural women, the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs will pilot an employment market information system at commune level through the internet, commune cultural houses and central and local radio and television programmes, including those broadcast in ethnic minority languages, said Huong.
It will also organise temporary employment programmes for unemployed or under-employed women in rural areas and focus on health care for children and pregnant women, especially ethnic minorities and those in remote areas.
Support policies for the 2011-15 period will also be introduced, and cover part of voluntary insurance premiums for poor women, she said.
Meanwhile, United Nations resident co-ordinator Pratibha Mehta said improving rural women's lives is a key priority of the UN country team in Vietnam .
"Our efforts include working with the Vietnam Women's Union to empower women to cope with natural disasters and increase the role of women in disaster risk reduction and management," she said.
Over the next five years, the UN will invest around 40 million USD in gender equality and women's empowerment programmes, double what it spent from 2006-11, Pratibha said.-VNA
