Social protection for women and girls is fundamental to gender equality

In Viet Nam, assurance of social protection for people is a key mission and policy of the Party and State. With the importance of this issue, Resolution No. 15/NQ-TW detailing main social policies in the period of 2012 – 2020 of the Political Bureau was discussed and approved in the fifth Session of the Central Executive Committee, term XI. After that, the Resolution No. 70 detailing the Action Plan of the Resolution No.15 was also approved by the Government. The Resolutions are two of many actions of the Party and State in promoting basic social services for people.

Opening the event, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Lan Huong, Director General of ILSSA stressed “Social protection is an important instrument in creating more inclusive and sustainable development pathways.  Assurance of employment and social protection system which have been established and developed in Viet Nam has improved the lives of Vietnamese people including women and girls.”

Speaking at the dialogue, Mrs. Shoko Ishikawa, UN Women Country Representative said “Notwithstanding significant progress in eliminating gender inequality, gender bias and therefore serious gender gaps persist and this is manifested in women’s limited access to the labour market, where for the most part women are confined to more poorly remunerated, particularly in the informal economy, without access to social protection. Therefore we must acknowledge that social protection programmes cannot be gender-blind. Gender differences in roles, responsibilities, need and interests must be taken into account in designing and implementing social protection schemes”.

During the workshop, participants including international and national experts on fields of social protection, economics and gender shared experience and information on the implementation of policies on social protection, especially policies and programs on social protection for women and girls. Their comments and recommendations together with findings of the “National report on Social protection for women and girls in Viet Nam” which was conducted by ILSSA and UN Women in 2014 will provide evidence and practical experiences for Viet Nam Government to improve gender responsive policies and programs on social protection.

The workshop is part of the project “Promoting Social Protection for Women and Girls in Viet Nam” that is implemented by ISSA with technical support from UN Women and financial support from Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australian Embassy.