Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The rate of women in the Vietnamese workforce has reached over 70 percent, a high level inthe world, according to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.
The rate of girls at school age is also higher than boys while in the incumbent 15th legislature, female deputies account for 30.26 percent of the total lawmakers, the highest ratio since the fifth National Assembly.
However, Vietnam still meets a number of challenges in ensuring genderequality, especially the prolonged gender-based violence. The latest nationalsurvey showed that over 60 percent of married women had been abusedphysically and mentally.
A noteworthy point is the factthat gender discrimination still exists in part of the population. Girls account for the majority of victims of violence and abuse, and women findit harder to access sustainable job opportunities than men.
Officer in Charge of the International Labour Organisation Vietnam Nguyen HongHa said due to the COVID-19 pandemic this year, female workers are worse affected interms of employment than their male counterparts, resulting in a 10.8 percentincrease in gender-based employment gap.
Director of Hanoi's Department of Labour, Invalids and SocialAffairs Bach Lien Huong recommended that authorities allocate appropriate resourcesfor gender equality promotion programmes.
United Nations Acting Resident CoordinatorKidong Park suggested Vietnam promote educational campaigns to raise public awareness of gender equality.
Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids andSocial Affairs Nguyen Thi Ha proposed that parties concerned should workclosely together to carry out a programme on preventing and coping withgender-based violence for the 2021-2025 period as well as priority policies forpregnant and COVID-19-infected women, and women caring for smallchildren./.
