VWU’s Vice-President Nguyen Thi Kim Thuy receives 3F’s Delegation from Denmark

3F is Denmark’s largest trade union gathering workers from different sectors and has been maintaining close relationships with Vietnam General Confederation of Labor. In the recent years, in its study tours to Vietnam, 3F’s delegations have spent time visiting the Central VWU and discussed with the VWU the issues of caring of and protecting the interests of VWU’s members in the context of the market economy and international integration (2007); the organization, activities and priority tasks of the VWU in the future (November, 2009).

In the last discussion with the VWU’s representatives, the 3F delegation learned about the VWU’s history, the Vietnamese women’s movement, VWU’s current programs and activities for women’s advancement and gender equality in Vietnam as well as its future agenda.

VWU’s Vice-President provided an overview of the historical milestones and contexts to highlight the progress made by Vietnam in gender equality, the VWU’s roles in pushing forward the implementation of women’s rights and striving for women’s advancement in conformity with the legal framework which is appropriate with the historical, cultural, socio-economic conditions of Vietnam, particularly in the cause of poverty alleviation and working towards gender equality; VWU’s initiatives contributing to deal with social matters such as trafficking in women and children, domestic violence, issues related to social welfare, specifically kindergarten, education, health care. The 3F delegation’s members shared information about the existing gender-based challenges facing Denmark such as equal pay for male and female workers, retirement ages for both men and women, the ratio of women’s participation in politics and the activities of social support centers for migrant women.

On the same day, the delegation also visited 2 women-borrowers from the sanitation revolving fund – a project model implemented by Hai Duong Provincial Women’s Union in Cam Phuc Commune, Cam Giang District, Hai Duong Province under the support from the World Bank.