Bias blocks women’s job training

12/04/2010
HCM CITY — Widespread gender discrimination needs to be tackled effectively to ensure more female workers access vocational training, gain knowledge and skills and increase their competitiveness, experts say.

At a two-day conference in HCM City that closed o­n Tuesday, Trinh Thi Thu Nga, a senior official of the Institute of Labour Science and Social Affairs, said the rate of female workers receiving vocational training was significantly lower than their male counterparts.

Nga said gender discrimination within households, especially in rural and mountainous areas was o­ne of the main causes for the low rate of female workers receiving vocational training.


"They give priority to their sons in accessing education and training and think that daughters do not need learn a lot," she said.


Although the Government has initiated many vocational training programmes for workers,many women in the rural areas are still not encouraged to attend them, she added.


Associate Prof Cao Van Sam, deputy head of the General Department of Vocational Training, said that many men greatly benefit from vocational training in increasing their occupational skills, but female workers were being left behind.


For instance, a recent study found that women accounted for more than 70 per cent of the workforce in the animal husbandry industry, but o­nly 20 per cent received vocational training in this area of work.


Sam said that Article 110 of Labour Law requires that State offices have the responsibility to train staff in skills other than their existing jobs in order to prepare them for future assignments. They are also required to create favourable conditions for the staff to use their new skills.


However, o­nly 2.08 per cent of female employees received such preparatory training, he said. He noted that training for new work was particularly necessary in some professions, like that of airhostesses, who typically are not allowed to do that work after they are 35.


He said gender parity in vocational training was a must if enterprises and/or companies were develop in a stable manner and make effective contributions to national socio-economic development.


Future plans


The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) will co-operate with the Viet Nam Women’s Union to increase the rate of female workers receiving vocational training by 2015 in order to improve their quality, effectiveness and competitiveness, said Tao Bang Huy, deputy head of the ministry’s Employment Department.


He said this will help increase employment among women towards meeting the demand of the industrialisation and modernisation process as well as that of international economic integration.

More than 100,000 women will be counseled o­n attending vocational training schools every year, he said at the seminar.


The Viet Nam Women’s Union at all levels will work to ensure that 50,000 women access vocational training every year, Huy added.


He noted that the rate of female workers receiving training had increased by 35 per cent last year over 2008.


According to the National Research Institute of Labour Protection, women account for 48 per cent of the country’s workforce.

— VNS

NEWS

Video