HCM City has obtained significant progress in gender equality and empowerment of women and girls in the last five years.— Photo hochiminhcity.gov.vn

HCM CITY— HCM City has obtained significant progress in gender equality and empowerment of women and girls in the last five years, Nguyễn Trọng Đàm, deputy minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, said at a conference held on Friday in HCM City.

Women hold 35.1 per cent of the seats in the State apparatus in the city and 84.6 per cent of positions in departments, State agencies and people’s committees at all levels, Đàm said.

The city has made significant improvement in increasing the participation of women in managerial positions in order to narrow the gender gap in the political field, he said.

HCM City is one of two localities in the country that has officials who are responsible for gender equality tasks in district-level State agencies.

The city narrowed the gender gap in the economic, labour and employment opportunities over the last five years.

It is one of six localities in the country with a rate of more than 30 per cent of female entrepreneurs, higher than the country rate of 24.9 per cent, according to a report released by the city’s People’s Committee.

Between 2011 and 2015, more than 171,100 enterprises were newly established, including 52,830 enterprises owned by women.

More than 619,100 new jobs were created over the period, of which 50.2 per cent were filled by female employees.

The city has also offered preferential policies for women to participate in vocational training to ensure equal participation in education and training. 

By the end of 2015, the rate of literate men and women aged between 15 and 40 in five outlying districts reached 99.82 per cent, higher than the target of 95 per cent.

The gender ratio at birth stands at 106.5 male infants/100 female infants, exceeding the target of 112 male infants/100 female infants.

In addition, the maternal mortality rate in the city has fallen to 3.29/100,000 live births by 2015, higher than the target of 6/100,000.

The percentage of pregnant women having access to services of medical care and prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission is 98.24 per cent.

A total of 465 domestic violence cases were reported in the city between 2012 and 2015, with 442 female victims (accounting for 85 per cent of domestic violence victims) and 190 perpetrators involved.

All detected domestic violence victims and perpetrators received legal and heath counseling.

“The city’s achievement in gender equality and women’s empowerment will contribute significantly to the success of the national strategy on gender equality for the 2011-2020 period,” said the deputy minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

“The city should allocate sufficient funds to ensure effective activities in the gender equality programme between 2016 and 2020,” he said.

A gender equality and domestic violence prevention month is scheduled across the city between November 15 and December 15. — VNS