VN tops region in terms of gender equality

The remark was made by Mr. John Hendra, UN Resident Coordinator to Việt Nam during a recent press briefing in Hà Nội o­n announcing the 2010 Asia-Pacific Human Development Report.

According to the report, over half of Vietnamese women are non-income housewives. While, the rest are private sector workers whose income accounts for o­nly 87% of the men’s.

The report also showed that among member countries of the ASEAN, Việt Nam has the highest proportion of National Assembly (NA) female deputies with the average rate of o­ne female out of every four top law-makers. Meanwhile, the rate applied for Japan or the Republic of Korea is o­nly 10%.

Besides, Vietnamese women are less suffered from domestic violence as compared to their peers in the region.

Only 20% of married Vietnamese women have been mistreated by their husbands, while the rate in Papua New Guinea is 66%. However, nearly two thirds of Vietnamese women still think that it is acceptable for men to beat their wives.

Therefore, in order to foster, gender equality, it is necessary to focus o­n creating jobs for women, ensuring safe migration, and further investing in high-quality healthcare and education, Mr. John Hendra concluded.