The top representative of the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) in Vietnam , Suzette Mitchell, affirms the UN will help Vietnam improve its record in gender equality and the empowerment of women.

At a December 8 conference in Hanoi on ways of pushing a national strategy on gender equality for the period 2011-2020 on December 8, Mitchell emphasised the importance of maintaining the achievements already made in gender equality, especially as Vietnam is becoming a middle-income country.

She also highlighted the nation’s first-ever national strategy on gender equality. However, she said that the selection of national priorities to ensure the budget will endanger the investment made in women and gender equality.

Gender equality is not only an important development target but also a premise to achieving other development goals and creates the right dynamic for strong socio-economic development, she said.

Nguyen The Trung, the Deputy Director of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Mass Mobilisation, said that Vietnamese women’s role and position in society has been lifted after 10 years of carrying out the national strategy for the advancement of women during the 2001-2010 period.

The gender gap in society has been narrowed, said Trung, adding that women are now involved in every field, especially in leading roles and political management.

Vietnam always has a female Vice President and women make up 25.76 percent of the country’s NA deputies in the 2007-2011 term, the highest rate among eight ASEAN parliaments, he stressed.

However, the conference pointed out the shortcomings in social life which have hindered economic growth, social progress, equality and sustainable development.

The Minister of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs, Nguyen Kim Ngan, said that the draft of the national strategy on gender equality for the 2011-2020 has been presented to the Government. The strategy aims to ensure equal opportunities and benefits for both men and women in political, economic and socio-cultural fields, she said.

The strategy also aims to the raise the rate of women deputies in the National Assembly (NA) and People’s Councils to over 30 percent during the 2011-2015 period and over 35 percent in the following five years.

It also targets providing vocational training for half of rural women workers and create new jobs for at least 40 percent of workers of each gender.

She proposed that the 11 th National Party Congress set out clear directions for implementing gender equality targets in the future. The Party, as well as Government agencies need to facilitate human and financial resources to ensure gender equality, she added./.