In the discussion on sharing experiences in connecting and promoting the role of National Assembly deputies, the People's Council of Nghe An province through the activities of the Women National Assembly Deputies group, the People's Council of the province frankly acknowledged: Although there has been much attention, female deputies participating in elected bodies for the 2021-2026 term in Nghe An still face certain difficulties. That is: The rate of female deputies re-elected is low, mainly participating in the first term, so they do not have experience and are confused in performing their role as representatives of the people; some opinions and recommendations at forums, meetings, and meetings with voters have not really met the thoughts and aspirations of voters; some female deputies are still hesitant and have not boldly participated in speaking at forums...
Mr. Nguyen The Manh - Vice Chairman of the People's Council of Con Cuong district said: The female elected representatives basically meet the standards and after being elected, most of them have performed their functions and roles well. However, for some specific fields, for example, health, education, etc., if the People's Council representative is not a leader of the industry, the coverage of the issue is still limited, so the representative does not have many opinions to advise the industry to answer the issues that voters are still concerned about, does not boldly speak up or speaks out not close to reality, not on the point.
Agreeing with the above opinion, Mr. Vi Van Cuong - Chairman of the People's Committee of Tri Le commune, Que Phong district also said that for female People's Council delegates, especially those who are not leaders of units, localities, or sectors, there are still some limitations. Because working in one field, delegates will find it difficult to spend time to learn and grasp the situation in other fields. Not to mention, if they are not leaders, the coverage as well as the impact on the progress of resolving the issues that people reflect will also be slower and for "touchy" content, sometimes female delegates are hesitant to reflect and make recommendations.
“Some female delegates are members of the committees of the District People’s Council, but because they are also local leaders who have to shoulder many tasks, they cannot participate in supervision and surveys. Some female delegates in villages and hamlets, although prestigious and experienced in working at the grassroots level and trusted by the people, have limited qualifications and capacity, which somewhat affects the quality of their activities,” said Ms. Lo Thi Hung - Deputy Head of the Legal Committee (People’s Council of Tuong Duong district).
On the other hand, due to holding multiple positions at the same time, some female delegates expressed confusion in balancing family and social work and fulfilling the role of an elected representative. Ms. Vi Thi Anh, a Tay Poong ethnic, a delegate of the People's Council of Tuong Duong district, term XX, 2021-2026, and Vice President of the Women's Union of Tam Hop commune, Secretary of the Party Cell of Phong village, said: Being elected as a delegate of the district People's Council is a great honor and responsibility for an ethnic minority woman like me. Therefore, I always try to gain experience, practice skills, actively study the policies of the Party and State, mechanisms and policies related to the interests of the people to ensure the rights and legitimate interests of local voters. However, due to the difficult locality, the lack of timely information and policy updates, and the fact that I hold multiple positions, I am sometimes confused about how to arrange and allocate time to fulfill my roles well, especially the role of a "bridge" to convey the thoughts and aspirations of voters and people to the highest authorities.
In the border district of Ky Son, talking about the difficulties when union and mass organization officials, leaders of communes and villages take on additional roles as People's Council delegates at all levels, Mr. Xeo Van Nam - Vice Chairman of the People's Council of Ky Son district said: In the 2021-2026 term, Ky Son has 8 female district People's Council delegates; 87 female commune People's Council delegates, of which 34 are female delegates in villages. 100% of the women are ethnic minorities, living in many remote areas of the district. In addition to taking on the role of Party cell secretary, or commune People's Committee chairperson, or participating in the Women's Union, the Front Work Committee... they take on many additional tasks, often having to go to the grassroots. However, due to the specific terrain of Ky Son district with many high hills and mountains, dangerous roads, and localities being dozens of kilometers apart, the women have a very hard time, sometimes even encountering danger when traveling on steep, winding, slippery roads when it rains, or when encountering unexpected natural disasters.
In addition, with the difficult living conditions, women hold many roles, so the opportunity and time to study to improve their qualifications, to research legal documents, and to supplement their knowledge is very limited. For example, the People's Council delegates of the communes of Dooc May, Bao Thang, Na Loi... In these localities, female People's Council delegates also take on the roles of Chairwoman of the Commune People's Committee, Head of the Women's Association, and Vice Head of the Women's Association, often having to travel to the villages and hamlets, then attend meetings in the district with a distance of 15-30km to the villages, or 50-70km if going to the district center, which greatly affects their health as well as the progress of work implementation.
In his Testament, President Ho Chi Minh advised: “The Party and the Government need to have a practical plan to train, promote and help more and more women to take charge of all jobs, including leadership. That is a revolution that brings true equality to women…”.
Therefore, to improve the effectiveness of female People's Council deputies at all levels, the fundamental solution is to create resources and build a team of female People's Council deputies with sufficient qualifications, conditions, and capacity to undertake the tasks. In addition, it is necessary to pay attention to creating a favorable working environment for female elected deputies, equipping them with knowledge, soft skills and practical experience so that they can fulfill their tasks well.
Ms. Lo Thi Hung - Deputy Head of the Legal Department (People's Council of Tuong Duong district) said: In the 2021-2026 term, Tuong Duong has 12 female delegates of the district People's Council. In general, the quality of female candidates for this term has many positive changes, especially in terms of capacity, qualifications, and age. In addition to doing a good job of training and fostering knowledge and skills for delegates, Party committees and authorities need to direct agencies and units to create conditions for female delegates of the People's Council to actively study the policies and guidelines of the Party and State, mechanisms and policies related to the interests of the people, thereby demonstrating their role as elected representatives. “To overcome the situation of delegates rarely participating in expressing their opinions, before each session of the Standing Committee of the Tuong Duong District People's Council, they require careful study of documents to have opinions and proposals. At the same time, including in the evaluation regulations, it has encouraged women to boldly participate in discussions, questions, and express their opinions on issues that voters are interested in.”
Many opinions say that, in addition to promoting the role of incumbent representatives, training, fostering, and discovering the next generation plays a necessary role. In addition, it is necessary to pay more attention, create conditions, and be more "open" in the structure of female cadres; there is a need to adjust gender mechanisms and policies, create fairness as well as recognize the real role of women from Party committees and authorities at all levels to increase the proportion and quality of female elected representatives, moving towards the goal of equality in political activities.
Regarding the Group of Women National Assembly Deputies, the People's Council of Nghe An province said: In the coming time, it will focus on implementing the following key activities: Continue to organize activities to improve knowledge and skills for members of the group; exchange and share experiences in activities with the Group of Women National Assembly Deputies, the Vietnam Women's Union. Continue to effectively implement social security activities, especially the program "Godmother - Connecting love". Focus on improving the quality of participation of female National Assembly deputies, Provincial People's Council deputies in and forums of the National Assembly, Provincial People's Council; instruct members of the group to spend time meeting voters on topics, and at the same time participate in Party cell meetings in the villages/hamlets where they run for election and where they reside to grasp the thoughts and aspirations of voters to reflect to the National Assembly and Provincial People's Council. Thereby, promoting the role and qualities of female delegates who are close to and attached to the people, demonstrating the role of female delegates in implementing the policies of the Party, State and gender equality.
Previously, at the ceremony to announce the Decision to establish the Group of female National Assembly deputies and the People's Council of Nghe An province in the 4th Session of the 18th Provincial People's Council, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council Thai Thanh Quy also proposed that through its activities, the Group of female National Assembly deputies and the Provincial People's Council should discover female factors not only in State management agencies but also in all areas of life such as: Labor, study, production, business... to coordinate with women's members at all levels to guide, guide, help, encourage, promote the spirit of autonomy, creativity, and advancement of women; at the same time, thereby discovering more female factors to introduce to organizations, enterprises, and apparatuses to strengthen the team of female managers in all areas.
However, the most important thing is that female elected representatives themselves need to make efforts to overcome difficulties, constantly learn and gain experience; regularly study documents, grasp legal policies; closely follow reality, improve skills in synthesizing, analyzing, comparing and contrasting information and data; the ability to detect problems to make recommendations, propose, discuss, question, and supervise the implementation of issues of concern to voters... Thereby, fulfilling the role and responsibility of elected representatives; affirming the role and capacity of women in politics; worthy of the trust and expectations of voters.