Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính speaking from Hầ Nội at the virtual meeting on Friday. VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính has said that Việt Nam has met over half the national gender equality goals for 2023.

The PM was speaking in a virtual address at the third ASEAN Women's Leaders Summit on Friday morning, highlighting the commitment of Việt Nam in promoting gender equality.

His attendance at the summit was made at the invitation of the Prime Minister of Laos, Sonexay Siphandone.

Themed 'Promoting the Care Economy and Resilience towards the ASEAN Community Post-2025,' participants included high-level leaders, ministers in charge of women's development and gender equality and prominent female entrepreneurs from ASEAN, Timor-Leste, partner countries and representatives from the United Nations.

Following Việt Nam's initiative during its ASEAN Chairmanship in 2020, the third ASEAN Women's Leaders' Summit clearly demonstrated ASEAN's commitment and efforts to promote gender equality and enhance the significant roles and contributions of women and girls to families and society. The focus of this summit was to discuss the challenges and burdens faced by women who undertake unpaid caregiving roles, along with the multifaceted consequences, such as gender inequality, limited access to education and employment and gender-based violence.

The summit provided practical guidelines to raise awareness about the crucial role of women in the care economy, promote gender equality and make specific proposals to increase investment in the care economy, address complex and multidimensional issues and better protect the rights of workers, particularly women.

In his address, Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính highlighted the immense contributions of women, who not only provide a strong support system for improving family life but also serve as pioneers in promoting sustainable societal development. The Prime Minister shared the progress made in achieving Việt Nam's national gender equality goals for 2023, noting that 11 out of 20 targets were met or exceeded the objectives of the National Strategy on Gender Equality 2025.

Additionally, three out of 20 targets were partially achieved compared to the goals set for 2030, with twelve targets showing better results than in 2022.

In 2023, the average number of unpaid caregiving and household work hours for women was 1.78 times that of men, with the goal set to reduce this to 1.7 times by 2025. Việt Nam's Gender Equality Index for 2023 ranked 72nd out of 146 countries, an improvement of eleven places compared to 2022.

Recalling the words of the beloved President Hồ Chí Minh: "If women are not liberated, then society is not liberated," the Prime Minister stressed the need to promote cooperation to harness women's potential and labour. The country needed to strengthen the care economy and build resilience towards the ASEAN Community post-2025 with an all-people, comprehensive and global approach, involving the effective participation of society, government, communities and the entire region.

PM Chính proposed that ASEAN countries focus on implementing solutions through three reinforcements.

These include enhancing awareness and understanding of the role of women, promoting stronger policies to encourage equal participation of women in all fields.

Innovating and improving infrastructure, develop quality, accessible and affordable public healthcare and caregiving services, especially in impoverished, remote and rural areas.

And continuing to innovate, improve institutions and policies, integrating relevant aspects of caregiving work into regional programmes and socio-economic development plans at the local and national levels, with a gender equality-promoting approach.

Additionally, strengthening cooperation to protect the legitimate rights and interests of workers, preventing abuse, exploitation, discrimination and illegal activities, including transnational crimes such as human trafficking, was emphasised.

Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids, and Social Affairs Nguyễn Thị Hà, who attended the summit in person in Vientiane, shared insights on the importance of unpaid caregiving work and the barriers and challenges in recognising the significant contributions of caregiving to human development and economic growth.

She also discussed the current state of the care economy in Việt Nam, the social prejudices against women's roles, the limitations in caregiving service provision, particularly in rural, remote areas and the inadequacies in social security coverage for caregiving workers, leading to gender inequality and income disparities. She proposed recommendations to promote the care economy's development and enhance women's roles. 

Prime Minister of Laos Sonexay Siphandone appreciated Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính's participation, speech and contributions, along with the Vietnamese female leaders at the summit and extended a warm invitation to PM Chính to visit Laos and attend the 44th and 45th ASEAN Summits and related meetings in October 2024 in Vientiane. VNS