HÀ NỘI — A photo featuring a smiling handicapped man sharing farm work with his wife won first prize in the photo contest on gender equality in Vietnamese families.

Nguyễn Hữu Thông from Hà Nội City said that he took photo during a business trip to Quảng Bình Province.

“The man was born and grown up in Lệ Thủy district, which was heavily bombarded during the war and often suffers from the severe weather conditions.”

“When he was a child, a bomb took his left foot. His physical weakness made him feel conflicted about his life situation for a long time. But he kept working hard. Then he married and began to share all house works and farm works with his wife. Their small house near the rice field has been filled with happiness,” he said.    

Thông said that the contest has a very human message and reminds everyone to love and respect our family.

The national photo contest “Vietnamese Equal Families” was organised by the Swedish Embassy in Việt Nam from March to May in cooperation with  the Việt Nam Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Vietnamese Women’s Museum. It was opened to both professional and unprofessional photographers nationwide.

The organisers aimed to promote gender equality in families and argue for equality in child care, housework, careers and societal contributions .

The thousands of entries reflected different viewpoints towards gender equality among mothers and fathers and other members in Vietnamese families.

The first and second prize winners were selected by a professional and representatives from the Vietnamese Women’s Museum, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Swedish Embassy.

The “Facebook Favourite” prize was up to internet users to decide. It went to Nguyễn Khoa Huy, from Thừa Thiên Huế province, with his photo featuring a father feeding his daughter in front of her smiling mother.

“Before, Asian people believed that only wives should take care of the children, and men should only focus on working on more ‘important’ works. But with this photo, I hoped to prove that this traditional idea gradually disappeared and that more and more husbands share housework with their wives,” he said.

Speaking at the award ceremony on Wednesday, Gustav Dahlin, in charge of Trade and Sweden Promotion and Political Affairs at the Embassy of Sweden, said that  Sweden is one of the world leaders in gender equality, but there are still many things to learn to promote feminism. This country wants to share its experiences in gender equality with Việt Nam and learn more about gender equality in Việt Nam through images captured by Vietnamese photographers.

More than 20 most beautiful contest photos are on display at the Vietnamese Women’s Museum until July 1. — VNS