Increasing women's participation in elected bodies
VWU’s Vice President Ton Ngoc Hanh discusses with Ms. Sabina Stein, Assistant Resident Representative, Head of Governance and Participation Unit, UNDP Viet Nam Vice President Ton Ngoc Hanh congratulated Ms. Sabina Stein on her new assignment at UNDP Viet Nam from early 2024.
At the meeting, Ms. Ton Ngoc Hanh shared briefly about the VWU and the information related to women’s political participation in Viet Nam. Specifically, the rate of female deputies to the 15th National Assembly for the 2021-2026 term has reached 30.26%; the percentages of female deputies to the People's Councils at all levels for the 2021-2026 term are higher than the 2016-2021 term figures. However, the ratio of female officials is still far from the set target, not commensurate with the potential and great contributions of women of all social classes.
VWU’s Vice President Ton Ngoc Hanh (middle)
Therefore, the VWU has early planned to organize conferences, seminars, and workshops to discuss measures for increasing the ratio of female leaders, managers, and female deputies to the National Assembly and People's Councils at all levels. The VWU has organized training workshops to equip women with knowledge and skills, while innovating training methods by digital technology application to help women candidates, particularly those running for election for the first time, improve their confidence, behavioral skills to prepare for the upcoming election. At the same time, the VWU has given policy advice, proposals, ideas and inputs to develop and amend laws such as the Labor Code, Gender Equality Law, Law on Election of Deputies to the National Assembly and People’s Councils etc… In addition, the VWU has also conducted training for existing deputies to the National Assembly and People’s Councils at different levels, especially the newly elected ones, thus helping improve their job performance.
Through the information shared by VWU Vice President Ton Ngoc Hanh, Ms. Sabina Stein said that Viet Nam is a progressive country in empowering women and promoting gender equality in a comprehensive manner. Gender equality promotion in the Judiciary sector and the rate of women participating in politics in Viet Nam are the aspects she is interested in and there are similarities in the activities implemented by the VWU and UNDP in this area.
Ms. Sabina Stein (middle), Assistant Resident Representative, Head of Governance and Participation Unit, UNDP Viet Nam
The two sides expressed a desire to collaborate with each other to empower women for greater success in the 2026 elections.
Participants at the meeting
