Gender and Law on Gender Equality A Training Workshop
On August 23, 2012, the Ministry of
Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs invited Dr. Thai Thi Ngoc Du, the Director
of Gender and Society Research Center, to provide a training workshop on
“Gender and Law on Gender Equality” for officials and civil servants of local
socio-political organizations, economic organizations, non-productive
organizations, and units of the People’s Armed Forces located in District 7, Ho
Chi Minh City (HCMC). This training activity is the top priority in 2012 for
every district in HCMC in order to propagate and disseminate knowledge on
gender equality, in conjunction with the National Strategy for the Advancement
of Women. Concurrently, the activity aims to offer information about basic
gender knowledge and gender equality laws in order to encourage participants of
these organizations and units in District 7 to participate in the upcoming
September 2012 contest entitled "Understanding policies and laws on gender
and gender equality for the period from 2011 to 2015" organized by the
Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs.
At the training workshop, Dr.Thai
Thi Ngoc Du presented the following points:
- Basic concepts about gender, sex, gender preconception,
gender discrimination, and stereotypical roles of men and women;
- Important legal normative documents on gender equality
such as the Law on Gender Equality; Law on Marriage and Family, and the
Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women
(CEDAW);
- Information regarding education and communication on
gender and gender equality, and
- Measures to promote gender equality.
The terms regarding the nature of
gender concepts of equality, provisions set out in the Gender Equality Law, and
the CEDAW are understood as: respect for women, making gender conditions
favorable, creating equal opportunities for both man and woman, developing
socio-economics, meeting personal needs, achieving substantial gender equality
between men and women, and contributing the best benefits to society. In the
Law on Gender Equality, gender refers to the characteristics, positions and
roles of men and women in all social relationships through the formation of an
education and socialization process; whereas, sex refers to biological
differences between men and women. If we are aware of and understand the
relevance of the similarities and differences between these two concepts, it
may be easier to upgrade understandings of other concepts such as gender
preconception, gender discrimination among men and women, and the stereotype of
gender roles. Furthermore, it is less likely that there would be a challenge
for achieving real gender equality if every individual gained an understanding
of the key concepts because they are a platform and a compass toward raising
the awareness of gender equality [1 & 2].
Historically, Vietnam has had a long
tradition of promoting gender equality and empowering women since the 1930s.
This was clearly reflected in the promulgation and enforcement of the
Constitution and the laws of Vietnam, which includes the CEDAW, Gender Equality
Law, Labor Code, and Laws on Marriage and Family. Researchers say that the
traditional Vietnamese family has many advantages that were formed from the
beliefs that “when there is mutual agreement between husband and wife, they can
even dry up the Chinese Sea” meaning that they can overcome any hardship during
their marriage. It is highly valued to gain harmony between husband and wife
and it is important in creating conditions for spouses to develop their
capabilities and supplementing shortcomings for each other. However, family
life in Vietnam has revealed potential conflicts and has become very
complicated in the current era. Problems like adultery, domestic violence, and
divorce occur everywhere and tend to increase day by day. Meanwhile, this
"dual role" has weighed heavily on the shoulders of modern women and
it seems extremely difficult for them to balance work and family life.
Therefore, this dual role not only requires that women show their greatest
effort to strive for balance and success in life, but also, more than ever,
they need support, sharing, and assistance from their husbands and families in
order to ensure a better family life, more happiness, and a long-lasting
relationship. In addition, to achieve true gender equality requires timely
attention and care from individuals, agencies, organizations, unions, and the
state, specifically in issuing and carrying out practical programs and policies
on gender equality in daily life and at all levels from the local and central
governments.
Regarding information, communication
and education on gender and gender equality, Dr. Du stressed that in Vietnam,
we have had feminist movements, gender training courses in some universities,
and projects all over the nation aiming to increase and improve the ability of
women to cope. Women's Unions at different levels and the National Committee
for the Advancement of Women play significant roles in guiding, mobilizing and
promoting gender equality in the areas of politics, economics, labor, education
and training, science and technology, culture, information, physical education,
sports, and health and family. Interestingly, the mass media has published more
and more remarkable articles on gender and gender equality these days. This
inclination shows progress and impact on the public’s awareness of equality and
equity for men and women in modern society. Progress and certain favorable
conditions have gradually helped advance women so that they may receive a
better education and opportunities in order to participate in all social
spheres that are equal to or even more important than those received by men.
Apart from the advantages and strengths of the mass media, it seems that there
is still a prevalence of gender insensitivity in movies, television programs,
advertisements, and textbooks. The cause may be that we are still affected by
gender role stereotypes, or audiences that easily accept media messages that
continue to be gender-biased or gender-discriminated. Therefore, it is vitally
critical to improve gender sensitivity and the equality of gender content in
the mass media because its broadcasting influence often profoundly and
unconsciously contributes to the awareness of its viewers and listeners.
In addition to the information and
communication on gender and gender equality, from newspapers, radio, TV, and
the Internet, the participants of the training workshop offered various ways in
which to impart gender equality issues; they were as follows:
- To build, train and foster local community cadres to
work on gender equality;
- To propagate and disseminate policies and law on gender
equality through contests, story-telling, picnics and camping;
- To propagate and disseminate policies and law on gender
equality through clubs such as the grandparents and grandchildren clubs,
the clubs only for men who have committed not to batter their wives,
mother and daughter clubs, and father and son clubs;
- To ensure gender mainstreaming as part of the
activities of organizations and individuals, families and society;
- To publish flyers, brochures, guidebooks , and other
materials;
- To impart gender issues via traditional cultural forms,
pop culture, literature, art and community activities;
- To assure to integrate the contents of gender and
gender equality into education programs in schools and other educational
establishments to suit each level of education and training levels, and
- To integrate gender equality contents into
extracurricular class activities.
The final part of the presentation
was to focus on measures that can be taken to promote gender equality. Article
6, item 5 of the Law on Gender Equality passed in 2007 was: “A measure to
promote gender equality is a measure aimed at ensuring substantial gender
equality, set forth by the state authorities in cases where there remains a
considerable imparity between men and women concerning the positions, roles,
conditions, and opportunities for men and women to bring into play all their
capacities and to enjoy the achievement of development where the
application of equal regulations for men and women cannot remove this imparity.
The measure to promote gender equality is to be implemented for a certain
period of time and shall end when gender equality goals have been achieved”
(p.2) [2].
Also, the Law on Gender Equality
stipulates measures to promote gender equality, specifically enhance the number
of women in leadership in the National Assembly, in the political and
governmental institutions and agencies, and in the people’s committees at all
levels. When in the process of screening for higher education, it is required
to provide an appropriate proportion of female candidates for these
scholarships. Enterprises will be tax exempt if they employ a high proportion
of female workers. All provinces, cities, and communes need to continue
developing and implementing credit or micro-credit programs that prioritize
giving loans to women. Both men and women have an equal right to access and
benefit from vocational training programs and education that improve and foster
professional knowledge and skills. The government needs to improve the
efficiency of its policies on reproductive health care and mobilize men to
participate in family planning. The government needs to pay more attention to
violence against women and mainstreaming gender equality in developmental
programs in all the agencies, institutions, and organizations. When developing
plans, it is critical not to ignore women and gender issues. It is also
critical to analyze disaggregated gender data, for instance, what men do, what
women do, what are their common needs, and their specific needs, and what are
the advantages and disadvantages for men and women [2].
Doan Thi Ngoc
References
[1] http://www.baomoi.com/Phu-nu-va-binh-%C4%91ang-gioi/139/3084484.epi
[2] Luật Bình đẳng giới, 2007. Truy cập ngày 4 tháng 9 năm 2012, từ http://new.org.vn/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=56%3Aluat...
http://gas.hoasen.edu.vn/en/gas-page/gender-and-law-gender-equality-training-workshop
