Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa, Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Education: It is necessary to continue having synchronous policies to promote gender equality in ethnic minority areas.

PV: Madam, in recent years, what policies has the State had to promote gender equality, especially in ethnic minority areas?

Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa, Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Education .

Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa: To implement the goal of gender equality, the State has issued many policies and laws related to the implementation of gender equality, such as the Law on Gender Equality; Law on Prevention and Control of Domestic Violence; Law on Marriage and Family; National Action Program on Gender Equality for the period 2016 - 2020; National Action Program on Prevention and Control of Domestic Violence until 2020; National Action Plan to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development...

In particular, it is necessary to mention specific programs and projects with content related to gender and gender equality in ethnic minority and mountainous areas such as: Project "Reducing child marriage and consanguineous marriage among ethnic minorities in the period of 2015-2025"; Project "Supporting gender equality activities in ethnic minority areas in the period of 2018-2025", Decision No. 449/QD-TTg dated March 12, 2013 of the Prime Minister "Approving the strategy of ethnic work until 2020"; Decision No. 402/QD-TTg dated March 14, 2016 of the Prime Minister "Approving the project on developing the contingent of ethnic minority cadres, civil servants and public employees in the new period"; Decision No. 1898/QD-TTg dated November 28, 2017 of the Prime Minister approving the Project "Supporting gender equality activities in ethnic minority areas for the period 2018 - 2025"...

In the National Target Program for Socio -Economic Development in Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas for the 2021-2030 period, there are a number of projects that directly impact the goal of gender equality, including the field of education and training development and improving the quality of human resources. Specifically: Project "Developing education and training, improving the quality of human resources"; Project "Implementing gender equality and solving urgent problems for women and children" and Sub-project "Reducing child marriage and consanguineous marriage in ethnic minority and mountainous areas".

From practical policies for ethnic minority areas, remarkable achievements in socio-economic development have had a positive impact on gender equality in ethnic minority areas, creating certain changes in the implementation results of the National Strategy on Gender Equality.

PV: In recent years, although our country has achieved important goals in gender equality, many indicators on health, labor and employment are still low. How do you assess this situation?

Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa: Vietnam is one of the countries that has made early political commitments to ensuring equality between women and men as well as between ethnic groups. The Constitution stipulates that female and male citizens have equal rights in all political, economic, cultural, social and family aspects; and strictly prohibits acts of discrimination against women and insulting women's dignity. Equality is not only recognized in law but also concretized through policies for women, contributing to the achievement of many important goals, considered a bright spot in the picture of gender equality in the region and the world.

These gender equality achievements have a direct impact on the progress and development of ethnic minority women, creating opportunities for ethnic minority women to affirm their position in economic development and social management, gradually narrowing the gender gap and promoting gender equality.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa (2nd left) talks with delegates at the Workshop on promoting the pioneering role of ethnic minority youth in changing gender stereotypes and gender stereotypes held in Thai Nguyen at the end of September.

More and more ethnic minority women are participating in leadership and management positions; women and girls in remote and ethnic minority areas are going to school at the right age; the gender gap is significantly narrowed at each level of education; the proportion of ethnic minority women enjoying health services is also gradually increasing; ethnic minority women are increasingly accessing microfinance services, vocational training, career guidance and creating jobs with stable income.

However, in reality, the gender equality between women and men is still quite large; women in general, and ethnic minority women in particular, are the most disadvantaged. Health, labor and employment indicators are still low, specifically the health index is still in the low group, ranked 144th out of 146 countries (down 3 places compared to 2022). In particular, according to data from the Ministry of Health, Vietnam's sex ratio at birth is currently unbalanced, at 113.6 boys/100 girls, compared to the target set for 2025 of 111 boys/100 girls.

In terms of physical strength, in some ethnic minority areas, especially ethnic minority groups, very few people have limited physical condition and stature compared to the general level of the whole country, especially some ethnic groups living in communes, villages and hamlets with special difficulties. The rate of re-illiteracy is still high, the number of female students dropping out of school is still high; the trained labor force aged 15 and over in the Northern mountainous region is lower than the national average and is uneven among provinces in the region: the rate of trained labor force aged 15 and over in Son La is 12%, Lao Cai is 16.2%, Yen Bai is 13.7%...

The proportion of ethnic minority cadres in the People's Committees at the provincial and district levels is still low. The targets for women participating in politics have approached the set targets, but mainly in advisory and deputy positions; leadership positions are still very modest compared to the potential. According to statistics of 9 occupational groups, ethnic minority people working as "leaders in sectors, levels and units" account for a low proportion, only 5% and the majority of these are men with 71.8% and women only 28.2%.

Direct and indirect policies related to human resource development of ethnic minorities still have many shortcomings, lack of synchronization, and lack of resources for development. Socio-economic development programs have not been closely integrated, so the effectiveness is not high, especially programs on culture, education, training, population related to human resource development...

There needs to be a comprehensive solution to promote gender equality for women and children in ethnic minority areas.

PV: According to you, what solutions need to be strengthened in the coming time to promote gender equality in ethnic minority areas?

Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa: To create opportunities and conditions for ethnic minority women to develop and gradually eliminate gender inequality in this area, it is necessary to continue to review, amend, supplement and perfect the system of policies and laws. Focus on effectively implementing programs, projects and policies for socio-economic development in ethnic minority areas to improve socio-economic life, contributing to promoting gender equality in ethnic minority and mountainous areas.

In each specific field, it is necessary to set out priority policies and expand opportunities for ethnic minority women to participate in learning in many types and training methods to improve their qualifications and capacity, including professional qualifications, foreign languages, information technology, etc.

For the goal of developing human resources in ethnic minority areas, it is necessary to innovate education and training policies; develop appropriate support policies for ethnic minority students at each level of education, giving priority to areas with special difficulties and very small ethnic groups; increase investment and improve the quality of ethnic minority boarding schools; expand preparatory departments in universities for ethnic minorities; study mechanisms and policies for recruiting ethnic minority children to study at universities, colleges and vocational high schools. Diversify types of training, fostering and vocational training in ethnic minority areas.

At the same time, supplement and perfect legal regulations, strictly handle cases of violating gender equality regulations, having discriminatory attitudes and behaviors, stigmatizing, abusing, abusing, and harming ethnic minority women and girls.

In particular, it is necessary to continue promoting propaganda and education to raise public awareness of comprehensive human resource development. Diversify forms and methods of propaganda and education; persistently promote communication, dissemination, and legal education, and knowledge about gender equality in ethnic minority areas in many creative forms, suitable to the language and customs of the people...

Thank you very much!

Promoting the pioneering role of ethnic minority youth in promoting gender equality

Source: https://baodantoc.vn/ba-nguyen-thi-mai-hoa-pho-chu-nhiem-uy-ban-van-hoa-giao-duc-cua-quoc-hoi-can-tiep-tuc-co-chinh-sach-dong-bo-de-thuc-day-binh-dang-gioi-o-vung-dtts-1729569352870.htm