Vietnam Women's Union

At the meeting, VWU Vice President Nguyen Thi Tuyet introduced VWU’s history and development as well as the contribution of Vietnamese women to the national construction and defense.

Sharing VWU’s current activities with Deputy Speaker of the UK House of Commons, the Vice President particularly highlighted its participation in drafting and proposing laws and policies and overseeing the enforcement of laws and policies on gender equality, women and children. Currently, VWU is making great efforts to propose an increase of women’s retirement age to become equal to that of men so that the potential of the female resources and gender equality are able to be promoted and ensured.

The Deputy Speaker expressed her deep impression on VWU’s long history and its recent activities at different levels in taking care of and protecting Vietnamese women. She highly appreciated VWU’s role and achievements in drafting laws, advising and proposing policies related to women and children.

Ms. Laing also showed her interests in maternity leave and women’s retirement age in Vietnam and informed that women in the UK had been retiring at the age of 60 and efforts would be made to reach 66 for both men and women.

Ms. Laing also shared her own experiences on proposing policies to protect British women and children when she was the Shadow Minister for Children, Shadow Minister for Women, Shadow Minister for Justice of the Conservative Party and the Deputy Speaker of the UK House of Commons since 2013.

According to Ms. Laing, the formulation of any new laws and policies should be based on the survey and assessment of their potential impacts on women.