Colombian Ambassador to Vietnam Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Melo (Source: VNA)

Hanoi – Vietnam has repeatedly affirmed its commitment to promoting gender equality for many times, and it has made great strides in working to achieve that target, according to Colombian Ambassador Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Melo.

In an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency on the occasion of the ongoing 13th National Women’s Congress in Hanoi, the diplomat said the governments of countries, including Vietnam, have been implementing many policies and programmes to create development chances for women in all fields, in efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 5 on gender equality and women empowerment set in the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

He spoke highly of Vietnam’s continual overhauling of the legal framework to guarantee equality for women as seen in the detailed regulations on gender equality in the Constitution and the adoption of the Law on Gender Equality in 2006 and the Law on Domestic Violence Prevention and Control one year later.

These legal tools hold a highly important role amid the COVID-19 pandemic, when gender inequality in the workplace, unfair housework distribution, and domestic violence increased, Miguel Rodríguez went on.

Talking about the role of women, the ambassador held that the term “weaker sex” has been used not only in Vietnam but also many other places around the world to indicate women, but the use of this term has ignored the value, potential, and strength of women and girls.

In the midst of the pandemic, women’s indispensable role in political, economic, and social development has been increasingly demonstrated, he said, adding that chapters of the Vietnam Women’s Union have worked unceasingly to protect gender equality and contribute to the realisation of development targets, including in the national target programme on new-style rural area building and the national startup programme.

In the interview, Miguel Rodríguez also highlighted Colombia’s progress in facilitating women’s participation in all socio-economic aspects.

He affirmed that the 13th National Women’s Congress of Vietnam and the International Women’s Forum held in Colombia, both taking place almost at the same time, have opened up common spaces for cooperation and experience sharing in gender equality promotion and women empowerment.