Hanoi (VNA) –The Vietnamese Government has madesignificant progress in the implementation of the SustainableDevelopment Goals (SDGs), especially SDG5on Gender Equality, said Elisa Fernandez Saenz, UN Women Representative in Vietnam.

In an interview with the Vietnam News Agency on the threshold of the 13th National Women’s Congress, the UN Women Representative also spoke highly ofVietnam’s efforts to enhance gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Vietnam has set up a solid legal framework conducive to gender equality, shesaid, stressing the significance of the Gender Equality Law, the Law onDomestic Violence Prevention and Control, and the National Strategy for GenderEquality (2021-2030).

The official noted that over the past years, Vietnam has shown strongcommitments and efforts to improve the status of the women in all spheres,including the political.

This can be seen in the outcomes of the 15th the NationalAssembly (NA) and People's Councils elections at all levels for the 2021-2026tenure held on 10 June 2021, where the percentage of female deputies reached 30.26percent - the highest representation of the fair sex in parliament since the 5th National Assembly (1976-1981).

“We need to emphasise that Vietnam is now 4.7 percent higher than the globalaverage of 25.5 percent of female parliamentarians, moving Vietnam from the 65th to the 54th in the global ranking,” she highlighted, describing thisas a remarkable achievement of the country in promoting gender equality and inthe empowerment of women through the increase of women’s participation inparliament.

Regarding economic development, women have made a significant contribution tothe economy since they constitute 47.7 percent of the labour force and make up26.5 percent of the business owners and CEOs, much higher than the regionallevels, the official noted.

Women’s equal representation and meaningful participation in the leadershippositions and decision-making at all levels, in both public and privatesectors, are essential for Vietnam to realise inclusively and sustainably itssocio-economic development vision, to achieve Sustainable Development Goals,and to “Leave No One Behind”, she said.

The official recommended Vietnam sharpen focus on narrowing the gender pay gapand prevalence of violence against women and girls, adding that certain groupsof women and girls are in need of specific attention such as ethnic minoritypeople, those living with disabilities or HIV, in rural or naturaldisaster-prone areas, and migrant workers.

On cooperation with Vietnam to promote gender equality, she affirmed the UNWomen will continue to support the Government in fulfilling its commitments toeliminate discrimination against women and girls, advance women’s rights, andpromote equality between women and men, and boys and girls.

UN Women has provided technical advice andsupported the Government in implementing policies and programmes that promotewomen's leadership and participation in decision-making at all levels andeffectively preventing and responding to gender-based violence in the familyand public places; enhanced women's economic rights through access to socialservices, resources and decent work opportunities; and provided consultancy onappropriate planning and resource allocation for the promotion of genderequality at the national level, the official highlighted.

Apart from that, UN Women also carries outcommunication campaigns and activities to tackle gender stereotypes so that allwomen, men, boys, girls and other genders can reach their full potential, sheconcluded./.