The event brought together over 60 participants including policy makers, representatives from MOLISA and other ministries, UN experts, bilateral and multilateral donors, as well as NGOs and the media.
In her opening remarks, Assoc.Prof.Dr Nguyen Thi Lan Huong, Director of the ILSSA, affirmed the significance of social protection in ensuring social stability, promoting economic development and building a modern and civilised society, noting that the policy system on employment and social protection has been developing in Vietnam for decades, benefiting an increasing number of groups of people, including women and girls.
Many indexes on women and girls have shown improvements since 2013, including those in poverty alleviation and access to schooling and healthcare services, Huong added.
Addressing the event, Shoko Ishikawa, UN Women Country Representative in Vietnam, said that progress has been made globally, including in Vietnam, during the past two decades, with improved access to social welfare. However, the progress has remained unequal particularly for women and girls and much more still needs to be done, Shoko emphasised.
Vietnam has achieved significant progress in eliminating gender inequality and gender bias, but there remains serious gender gaps as manifested in women’s limited access to the labour market, Shoko said, noting that gender factors are considered in policies and programmes on social protection, and gender roles and differences must be taken into account in designing social protection schemes.
During the workshop, domestic and foreign experts in the fields of social protection, economics and gender, shared their experience and information in implementing social protection policies for women and girls.
Social protection contributes significantly to promoting gender equity, said ILSSA Director Nguyen Thi Lan Huong in her report on social protection for women and girls in Vietnam.
According to Huong, universal social protection will improve accessibility, participation and benefits for women and girls, while a diversified, open and effective social protection system, focusing on vulnerable groups, will respond to the needs and circumstances of women and girls and expand opportunities among them.
The report also put forward two recommendations to promote social protection for women and girls: integrating gender equality objectives in the implementation of Resolution No. 15 on social protection at all levels, and institutionalising the system of monitoring and evaluating gender equality objectives mentioned in the resolution.
