Vietnam attaches great importance to its commitment to the advancement of women and gender equality as important instruments to achieve equitable and sustainable development, said Ambassador Le Hoai Trung, Vietnam’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations. The Ambassador made the statement at the UN debate on Agenda Item 28: Advancement of Women, in New York on October 14, during which he also said that important progress has been made in ensuring women’s rights thanks to the concerted efforts at different levels of the international community. As more countries are adopting new legislations on gender equality and mainstreaming gender equality into their development strategies, millions of women are now better enjoying their rights, Trung said, adding that the number of outstanding women in politics, economy and academia is growing.

However, he said, women all over the world are still facing obstacles that restrict their ability to play significant roles in the communities and society. These obstacles include impacts of the current global economic and social crises, the food insecurity, climate change and energy crisis.

“In such a context, Vietnam welcomes the upcoming review and appraisal of the implementation of Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the preparation of post-2015 development agenda as new opportunities to take stock of and further expand the scope of the work in the area of women’s rights,” the Ambassador said.  Since the enactment of the Gender Equality Law in 2006, the Vietnamese Government has adopted and implemented various policies to promote the rights of women, he said. “For instance, the Law against Domestic Violence was adopted in 2007, and the US$47-million National Strategy and National Program on Gender Equality for the year 2011-2015 are being implemented.” Gender is mainstreamed in all new laws, Trung said, adding that a recent example is the Tobacco Law in 2012, which specifically obligates smokers to avoid smoking near pregnant women and children.

“With the support from World Bank and UN Women in Vietnam, this year’s Vietnam Women’s Innovation Day was launched with the theme ‘Economic empowerment and capacity building for Vietnamese Women’ to support initiatives of economic empowerment for women that ‘think outside the box and act beyond existing predefined parameters and traditional interventions’,” the Ambassador said. Since 2003, this biennial program has provided some $2.4 million in funding for 231 women innovative projects, he added.

Currently, 78 percent of Vietnamese women are now in the labor force and account for 48 percent of the labor force, and the numbers are increasing. The literacy rate for women and girls is 92 percent. Female students account for more than 50 percent of total enrolment in tertiary education. Last year Vietnam ranked 3rd in ASEAN and 48th in the world in terms of gender equality index; was among the 5 developing countries in Asia that have the highest percentage of women members of Parliament. However, the Ambassador said, Vietnam is still faced with challenges, including limited numbers of full time staff available to work on gender issues, especially at the provincial level, limited budget to implement national programs, and male and female income disparity still remains, etc. These are the challenges that Vietnam will have to overcome in the coming years.

In conclusion to his speech, Ambassador Trung expressed his appreciation to UN agencies, especially UN Women, and many other partners for their valuable support extended to Vietnam.