Elisa Fernandez Saenz, UN Women Representative in Viet Nam (Photo: UN Women in Viet Nam)

In an interview with the Vietnam News Agency on the threshold of the 13^th National Women’s Congress, the UN Women Representative also spoke highly of Viet Nam’s efforts to enhance gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Viet Nam has set up a solid legal framework conducive to gender equality, she said, stressing the significance of the Gender Equality Law, the Law on Domestic Violence Prevention and Control, and the National Strategy for Gender Equality (2021-2030).

The official noted that over the past years, Viet Nam has shown strong commitment and efforts to improve the status of women in all spheres, including politics.

This can be seen in the outcomes of the 15^th National Assembly (NA) and People's Councils elections at all levels for the 2021-2026 tenure held on 10 June 2021, where the percentage of female deputies reached 30.26 percent - the highest representation of the fair sex in parliament since the 5^th National Assembly (1976-1981).

“We need to emphasise that Viet Nam is now 4.7 percent higher than the global average of 25.5 percent of female parliamentarians, moving Viet Nam from 65^th to 54^th in the global's ranking”, she highlighted, describing this as a remarkable achievement of the country in promoting gender equality and in the empowerment of women through the increase of women’s participation in parliament.

Regarding economic development, women have made a significant contribution to the economy since they constitute 47.7 percent of the labour force and make up 26.5 percent of the business owners and CEOs, much higher than the regional levels, the official noted.

Women’s equal representation and meaningful participation in leadership positions and decision-making at all levels, in both public and private sectors, are essential for Viet Nam to realize inclusively and sustainably its socio-economic development vision, to achieve Sustainable Development Goals, and to “Leave No One Behind”, she said.

The official recommended Viet Nam sharpen its focus on narrowing the gender pay gap and the prevalence of violence against women and girls, adding that certain groups of women and girls need specific attention, such as ethnic minority people, those living with disabilities or HIV, in rural or natural disaster-prone areas, and migrant workers.

In cooperation with Viet Nam to promote gender equality, she affirmed that the UN Women will continue to support the Government in fulfilling its commitments to eliminate discrimination against women and girls, advance women’s rights, and promote equality between women and men, and boys and girls.

UN Women has provided technical advice and supported the Government in implementing policies and programmes that promote women's leadership and participation in decision-making at all levels and effectively preventing and responding to gender-based violence in the family and public places; enhanced women's economic rights through access to social services, resources and decent work opportunities; and provided consultancy on appropriate planning and resource allocation for the promotion of gender equality at the national level, the official highlighted.

Apart from that, UN Women also carries out communication campaigns and activities to tackle gender stereotypes so that all women, men, boys, girls and other genders can reach their full potential, she concluded.