HÀ NỘI — The Việt Nam Business Coalition for Women’s Empowerment (VBCWE), a new coalition of large employers committed to ensuring gender equality within their businesses and beyond, launched in Hà Nội on Thursday.

The Coalition was formed with the support of Investing in Women, an initiative of the Australian Government.

VBCWE is expected to lead efforts to create workplaces where women and men have the same opportunities to contribute and advance in their chosen careers.

The seven founding members of the VBCWE are Deloitte Vietnam, Maritime Bank, Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), SASCO, GARCO 10, Traphaco and Unilever Vietnam. Together, they have an estimated 120,000 Vietnamese employees. The Coalition is chaired by Hà Thu Thanh, Chair of Deloitte Vietnam and the Vice Chair is Tôn Nữ Thị Ninh – Việt Nam’s former ambassador to the EU and Belgium.

These companies have committed to closing the gender pay gap, promoting women into leadership and management positions; enhancing female workforce participation; investing in family-friendly working conditions; promoting gender equality; and being strong advocates of gender equality among peers.

VBCWE is supporting coalition members to achieve EDGE Certification - a global standard to assess businesses’ policies and practices against gender equality benchmarks and help companies take steps to create more equitable and profitable workplaces. 

 “The evidence is clear: when more women join the labour market and the working environment is conducive, when women stand equal chances to get appointed to the top jobs, and when businesses close the pay gap between men and women, our economies grow more strongly,” said Australian Ambassador to Việt Nam Craig Chittick said at the launching ceremony.

“By promoting gender equality at work, these companies are gaining higher productivity and a better competitive advantage,” he added.

VBCWE chairwoman Hà Thu Thanh said that by creating gender equality in all employment opportunities, companies will attract and retain talent.

In return, the employees improve productivity and business efficiency.

“Gender equality policies will help improve firms’ image and brand, an important invisible asset of our companies,” she said.

Gender equality is a priority for both Australia and Việt Nam. The Australian Government is committed to promoting women’s economic empowerment as a significant driver of economic growth and prosperity especially in the South East Asian region.

As one of the Australian Government’s initiatives, Investing in Women aims to increase and improve women’s participation in South East Asian economies, particularly in the Philippines, Indonesia, Việt Nam and Myanmar. 

It has been estimated that Việt Nam’s economy could grow by an additional 10 per cent (US$40 billion) by 2025 with improvements in gender equality. — VNS