In February 2019, our HER Planet Earth team will explore the world's largest cave and exit via the Great Wall of Vietnam raising awareness and funds for women empowerment and climate change resilience. The expedition will be in support of UN Women Vietnam, which includes projects for the advancement and economic empowerment women in rural areas of Vietnam.
Due to their gender-defined roles in society and traditional patterns of marginalisation, Vietnamese women are amongst those that are likely to carry the heaviest burdens from climate change and environmental degradation and we will be supporting a very important project to strengthen women’s livelihood and participation, ultimately building climate change resilience in their communities.
More about UN Women Vietnam
After the end of a war that devastated the country, Vietnam’s political and economic reforms that started in the mid-1980s contributed to impressive socio-economic progress. Vietnam managed to reduce the poverty rate from 58.1% in 1993 to 9.6% in 2012 and the country transitioned to lower Middle-Income status in 2010. The Government has made significant progress in promoting gender equality also. In addition to gender equality guarantees in the Constitution, milestone legislations introduced include the Law of Gender Equality (2006) and the Law on Prevention and Control of Domestic Violence (2007).
However, while women's labour force participation is one of the highest in the region at 73.2% (2013), women have limited access to formal employment and are disproportionately engaged in vulnerable employment (69% in 2012) that do not provide social security. Prevalence of domestic violence is high with three in five ever married women experiencing some form of violence in their lifetime by their intimate partner. The harmful practice of son preference is also resulting in a highly skewed sex ratio at birth (113 boys to 100 girls in 2013). These are a result of weak enforcement of the law and deep-rooted gender stereotypes and social norms that limit opportunities for women and girls.
UN Women is part of the UN “Delivering as One” initiative in Vietnam and it leads UN’s advocacy to further promote gender equality by enhancing women’s economic empowerment, ending violence against women and girls and improving women’s access to justice, and making gender equality a key part of the national legal framework, policies and plans.
