Praising outstanding women scientists

The ceremony was attended by Mr. Nguyen Xuan Phuc - Deputy Prime Minister, Ms. Nguyen Thi Binh - former Vice President of the State and Chairwoman of the Kovalevskaia Award Foundation, Ms. Truong My Hoa - former Vice President of the State, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Hoa - President of the Vietnam Women's Union (VWU), and numerous leaders and representatives of ministries, sectors & branches, and central agencies & organizations; and recipients of the awards and merit certificates.

The Kovalevskaia Award is a renowned award with international distinction that recognizes individuals and collectives of outstanding women scientists having scientific research works with socio-economic values that can be applied in practice. The award is presented annually o­n March 8^th, coinciding with International Women’s Day. Since its establishment 28 years ago, Vietnam's Kovalevskaia Award Committee has presented awards to 39 individuals and 16 collectives of outstanding women scientists in the fields of natural sciences. In 2012, the Kovalevskaia Award was conferred to o­ne individual, Dr. Bach Khanh Hoa from the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion, and o­ne collective, the Centre of Experimental Biology – Institute of Technological Progress, Ministry of Science and Technology.

The "Vietnamese Women's examples of self-confidence, self-esteem, faithfulness, andresourcefulness" writing contest was held by the Vietnam Women's Union. The Contest contributes to the successful realization of the Resolution of the 11^th Vietnam National Women’s Congress to “promote and disseminate information o­n the moral qualities of Vietnamese women to meet the requirements of national industrialization and modernization”. It also serves topractically implement the Directive N^o. 03-CT/T.U of the Political Bureau o­n Strengthening the learning and following Ho Chi Minh’s moral example. Through the contest, examples of women with good moral qualities are discovered and praised, thereby guiding and encouraging women across Vietnam to promote traditional values of “heroism, indomitableness, faithfulness, and resourcefulness” to meet the requirements of national industrialization and modernization. The Contest was launched from June to October 2012 and nearly 30,000 essays have been received. The VWU has presented certificates of merit to 14 typical characters and awarded three collective prizes, 15 individual prizes to the winners.

Opening the ceremony, the VWU President, Ms Nguyen Thi Thanh Hoa, emphasized the significance of the Kovalevskaia Award in encouraging women scientists in Vietnam to engage in scientific research works with socio-economic values and to apply this research into practice, thereby increasing the prestige of the scientific activities of Vietnamese women in the country and around the world. Reviewing the "Vietnamese women's examples of self-confidence, self-esteem, faithfulness, and resourcefulness" Contest, Ms Nguyen Thi Thanh Hoa stated that the biggest success of the contest was the tens of thousands of real stories about typical Vietnamese women exhibiting good moral qualities being introduced to the public. The contest provided vivid examples of women following the moral example of the late President Ho Chi Minh in ideological-political training about praising and learning the good people and good practices, helping to make "the good bloom like spring flowers" and “our nation becomes a forest full of beautiful flowers".

The VWU President Nguyen Thi Thanh Hoa also expressed her happiness that o­n this occasion, 57 female doctors were awarded certificates of merit by the VWU for successfully defending their theses in 2011 and 2012.

Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister Mr. Nguyen Xuan Phuc expressed his appreciation for the contributions of Vietnamese women to the achievements of the Vietnamese revolution. The Deputy Prime Minister emphasized that throughout the process of renovation of the country,the fine moral qualities of Vietnamese women have been brought into full play. Vietnamese women across all social classes have demonstrated vibrancy, dynamism, creativity, positivity, and tenacity in overcoming prejudices and challenges, making active contributions to social activities in order to maintain their widespread impacts across many fields such as: participation in the state management; economic development and poverty reduction; development of prosperous, equal, progressive, and happy families; participation in the prevention and control of social problems; promotion of international relations, etc. Across all of these areas, there have been examples of outstanding women making remarkable contributions.