On The Global Scale

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On the global scale, it is irrefutable that gender inequality and discrimination

against

women have remained a serious global problem, especially in substantial


number of

developing countries. In Vietnam, the latest national survey on violence and


coercion in

2019 gives information that nearly two out of three women have ever been
violently abused

by their husband/partner or physically or sexually controlled, emotionally or


economically at

least once in a lifetime. The root of this pressing issue is that Vietnamese
women mainly

work in low-income or vulnerable occupations, leading to the dependence on


men who are

under consideration as the main income in a typical family. Additionally, the


limitation of

opportunities stems from political and economic systems also attributed to


the gap between

male and female. The ọbjective of this paper is that it is targeting at


analyzing and assessing

Vietnam's implementation of the 2011-2021 gender equality strategy from


political and

economic perspectives and identifying challenges in implementation during


the given time

period. On this ground, the paper proposes several approaches for Vietnam
to empower

women by enhancing the role and position of women and assisting them to
access equal

chances as men in society towards the gender equality goals to 2030.

Keywords:Gender equality, national strategy, Vietnam, economic


perspective, political

perspective.
1. Introduction

Nowadays, the role of gender equality is extremely important. It not only


contributes

to showing interest in social status, but it also affects the economic country’s
development.

According to the World Economic Forum (2019), the Global Gender Gap
Report 2020, it

will take the world 257 years to completely eliminate the economic disparity
between the

sexes. In Vietnam, the issue of gender equality has been focused on the
current situation.

However, women and girls are still more disadvantaged than men, especially
in economic

and social matters. In terms of Gender equality in Vietnam, Vietnam ranks


87th out of 153

countries in terms of narrowing the gender gap, currently women's income is


on average

three million VND less than men per year.

The purpose of the study is to highlight the current status of gender equality
in

Vietnam, especially in two criteria: economic and socio-political. From there,


analyzing

Vietnam's gender equality strategy in the period of 2011-2020 and


evaluating its

effectiveness, giving reasons, limitations and difficulties when implementing


the strategy.

Finally, the study offers solutions to overcome the above limitations and
difficulties and the

goals to 2030.

2. Theoretical basis and Literature review

2.1 Theoretical basis


According to the American Psychological Association, gender identity “refers
to a

person’s internal sense of being male, female, or something else; gender


expression refers to

the way a person communicates gender identity to others through behavior,


clothing,

hairstyles, voice, or body characteristics.” The term “gender” distinguishes


the set of

learned expectations, behaviors, and attitudes about being a man or woman


from our

biologically determined traits – collectively termed our “sex” (Krieger, 2003).


According to

the Equality and Human Rights Commission in their resources for secondary
schools,

explain the meaning of equality as, “Equality is about ensuring that every
individual has an

equal opportunity to make the most of their lives and talents.

Gender equality is defined by the Interagency Gender Working Group (2018)


as “the

process of being fair” to people of different genders. Without equity, people


do not have fair

access to resources and opportunities that allow them to operate in society


as equals. Gender

equality is a social condition whereby women and men share equal rights
and a balance of

power, status, opportunities, and rewards.

Gender equality allows us to be equal in all political, economic, cultural,


social and family

fields; be supported and facilitated to promote their abilities, have equal


opportunities to

participate in the development process and enjoy the fruits of development.


Gender equality plays an important role nowadays, especially in economic
and

socio-political aspects. Gender equality not only includes between men and
women but also

combines the recognition of that person's true gender, living true to gender
without being

discriminated against and stigmatized by people around. According to UN


Women 2011,

yet gender inequalities remain deeply entrenched in every society. Women in


all parts of the

world suffer violence and discrimination. They are too often denied access to
basic

education and health care. They are under-represented in political and


economic

decision-making processes. Even though women remain a minority of


combatants and

perpetrators of war, they increasingly suffer the greatest harm. Therefore,


gender equality

helps women to speak their voice and participate in economic, political and
social activities.

2.2 Literature review

There are a lot of research and references about gender equality in the
world. Titan

Alon (2020) mentions the economic downturn caused by the current COVID-
19 outbreak

has substantial implications for gender equality. However, the study only
focuses on

studying the impact of the covid epidemic on the female unemployment rate
higher than the

male unemployment rate.

Gender inequalities in self-perceived health were higher, with women


reporting worse
self-perceived health than men, in countries with family policies that were
less oriented to

gender equality (especially in the Traditional-Southern country-group). By


analyzing the

relationship between the orientation of public gender equality policies and


gender

inequalities in health in European countries, and whether this relationship is


mediated by

gender equality at country level or by other individual social determinants of


health (Laia

Palència 2014).

According to Naila Kabeer (2013), the evidence that gender equality,


particularly in

education and employment, contributes to economic growth is far more


consistent and

robust than the relationship that economic growth contributes to gender


equality in terms of

health, wellbeing and rights. From a growth perspective, therefore, the


promotion of certain

dimensions of gender equality may appear to offer a win-win solution but


from a gender

equity perspective, there is no guarantee that growth on its own will address
critical

dimensions of gender equality.

In Vietnam, there are not many articles related to gender equality. According
to Do

Thi Binh (1998), The research paper emphasizes that the roles of both men
and women in

today's society are extremely important in all fields. Women make great
contributions in the

fields of state management.


There is a change in the role of the wife, husband in the family. Though men
and

women in the past made people always have the idea that the family has
only one

breadwinner and that is the man. (Nguyen Van Trang 2015).

According to Nguyen Thi Duc (2013), the study shows that more society is

developing, the more opportunities women can gain to study and work, and
many people

have demonstrated their ability in many fields of science, economics, and


leadership. In

many respects, the process of implementing gender equality has been


creating resulting in

many changes in the family, the most obvious of which are changes in
morphology,

structure, the size of the family, the roles of the wife and husband, the
relationship between

husband and wife, the culture of behaviour, family morality.

The previous studies have clearly shown the status of gender equality,
especially the

position of women in state management. However, the studies do not clarify


whether the

implementation of gender equality is effective or not and set targets for


gender equality

strategies. The above studies have not focused on gender equality in terms
of politics and

economics so that we can see the important role and position of gender
equality or

especially women with equal rights.

This study contributes to the existing literature in assessing the status of


income
equality between women and men. Specifically, in two criteria of Vietnam,
economic and

social, from which we analyze the gender equality strategy for the period
2010-2020 in

terms of strategy implementation, results and evaluation of those results.


Thereby finding

effective measures in creating equal opportunities for men and women in


securing income;

serving as the driving force and goal of socio-economic development from


the family to the

community.

3. Methodology and data

There are many indicators to evaluate gender equality as pointed out in the
previous

section. With the goal of assessing gender equality from both economic and
political

perspectives, the research will use the following criteria:

To begin with, evaluating gender equality from an economic perspective, the


following

three indicators will be used: labour, employment fields and Female


enterprises distributed

by main production and business lines. Secondly, to assess gender equality


from a political

perspective, we will use the following factors: the participation of women in


management

and leadership positions.

Using methods of reviewing, and analyzing reference documents, descriptive


statistics

of secondary data on the status of, the percentage of female People's


Council deputies,
women participating in the Party Committees, ministries, ministerial-level
agencies and

government agencies with female leaders etc. The article uses secondary
data analysis taken

from government reports 2011-2020 and UN Women. Sources of information


referenced in

the study are taken from Yale University, Oxford University.

4. Vietnam’s implementation of 2011 - 2020 National Gender Equality


Strategy

4.1. An overview of the 2011 - 2020 National Gender Equality Strategy

In Decision No. 2351/QD-TTg dated December 24, 2010 of the Prime Minister

approving the National Strategy on Gender Equality for the period 2011-
2020, 7 specific

goals were set out (including 22 targets) should be implemented in this


period, and at the

same time, it is necessary to strengthen the leadership and direction of the


Party committees

and authorities at all levels, the coordination of socio-political organizations,


social

organizations, and other organizations, socio-political professions, economic


organizations,

non-business units, the participation of each individual, each family and the
whole

community in gender equality work.

The overall goal of this strategy is to ensure substantive equality between


men and

women in terms of opportunities, and participation and enjoyment in the


political,

economic, cultural and social fields, contributing to the development of the


country quickly

and sustainably. There are 7 key specific groups of targets including:


Target 1: Increase the participation of women in management and leadership

positions, in order to gradually reduce the gender gap in the political field.

Target 2: Reduce the gender gap in the fields of economy, labor and
employment;

increase the access of poor women in rural areas, women of ethnic minorities
to

economic resources, and the labor market.

Target 3: Improve the quality of female human resources, step by step


ensure the

equal participation of men and women in the field of education and training

Target 4: Ensure gender equality in accessing and enjoying health care


services.

Target 5: Ensure gender equality in the fields of culture and information.

Target 6: Ensure gender equality in family life, gradually eliminate gender-


based

violence.

Target 7: Improve state management capacity on gender equality.

Political Target 1, which is to increase the participation of women in


management and

leadership positions in order to gradually reduce the gender gap in the


political field, has 3

objectives (Table 1).

Economic Target 2, which is to reduce the gender gap in the fields of


economy, labor and

employment; increase the access of poor women in rural areas, women of


ethnic minorities

to economic resources, and the labor market, has 4 objectives (Table 1)

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