The Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, Nguyen ThanhHoa, on Nov. 3 urged inspectors to enhance the implementation of lawson gender equality.
The minister, speaking at a workshop in DaNang City, said inspectors in provinces and cities should make regular,annual checks and report the results to the ministry.
"Gender equality and assured women's rights are a goal humans have striven to achieve for many decades," Hoa said.
Whilethe Government was strongly committed to equality, there were stillsignificant shortcomings. For example, he said discriminatory conditionscould still be seen in labour recruitment advertisement columns.
GovernmentDecree 55/2009/ND-CP which guides the Gender Equality Law andstipulates fines for violations has been in force for two years, but nocases have been treated.
Participants at the workshop emphasisedthe importance of the United Nations' Convention on the Elimination ofAll Forms of Discrimination against Women.
"An important point is to raise people's awareness about gender equality," said the ministry's chief inspector, Nguyen Van Tien.
He said the matter required suitable policies and specific programmes at all levels, plus information campaigns.
Theworkshop was sponsored by the Spanish Agency for InternationalDevelopment Co-operation and Paz y Desarrollo, a Spanish internationalnon-governmental organisation for peace and development.
Paz yDesarrollo kicked off a 2.3-million USD programme to promote genderequality in political participation in Vietnam in May./.