Many problems exist in female cadre work

(Baonghean) - As one of the female principals with many initiatives in management and leadership. With more than 30 years of experience in the profession of "teaching children", Ms. Nguyen Thi Tu (Principal of Kim Lien Secondary School, Nam Dan) has over 20 years of experience in management.

Since 1990, she was promoted to vice principal, then principal. In her management position, she gradually improved the professional qualifications and ethics of the teaching staff; mobilized all resources to invest in upgrading facilities, building Kim Lien Secondary School into the leading flag of the Nam Dan education sector, an excellent labor collective at the provincial level; recognized as a national standard school in 2005. After that, she was transferred to Nam Cat Primary School, where she was also instrumental in "raising" the school from a weak unit to a strong school, an advanced labor collective.

With her contributions, she was honored to receive the Certificate of Merit for Party members who have excellently completed their tasks from the Provincial Party Committee; Certificate of Merit from the Provincial People's Committee for the emulation movement of good workers, being a grassroots emulation soldier for many consecutive years; Certificate of Merit from the Central Committee of the Vietnam Women's Union for the achievement of "Good at public work, good at housework for 5 consecutive years" and Certificate of Merit from the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor.

She shared: “As a woman, I have to shoulder two responsibilities: “national affairs and family affairs”, so when doing management work, I face many difficulties: few opportunities and conditions to improve my qualifications and capacity, limited time; communication… That requires, in addition to my own efforts, attention and support in both material and spiritual aspects from competent authorities, sympathy and sharing from my family and recognition from society. Only then can I create motivation for women to strive to rise up and promote their roles and capacities…”.

Currently, the number of female teachers and employees in the education sector in the province is nearly 40,000, accounting for over 73% of the total number of teachers and employees in the sector. Of which, at the Department of Education and Training, there are 7 women working as managers (1 Deputy Director, 2 Vice Chairmen of the Industry Union, 1 Head of Department and 3 Deputy Heads of Department); in the high school sector, there are 51 women as Principals and Vice Principals; in the continuing education sector, there are 10 women as Directors and Vice Directors; Hoa Sen Kindergarten and vocational schools under the Department have 11 women working as managers. In the sector under the Department of Education and Training, there are 19 women as Heads and Deputy Heads of Departments, 8 Chairmen of the District Education Union, 2,081 women as Principals and Vice Principals of 3 levels; over 800 women are Chairmen of the grassroots Union. In addition, there are nearly 17 women participating in the People's Councils at all levels, 1 woman participating in the Provincial People's Council.

In fact, in recent years, the work of female cadres in the education and training sector has had many positive changes, female managers have made active contributions to the development of education in the province. However, the proportion of female cadres in management positions is still low, not commensurate with the workforce in the sector; the female management team is not uniform. The higher the level of education, the lower this rate: Preschool rate is 99.8%; Primary school 85.9%; while secondary school is 29.6% and high school is only 23.5%.

In schools, it is like that, but what about at the district level? For example, in Dien Chau, after 5 years of implementing the Law on Gender Equality, Dien Chau is a locality that is assessed to have done a good job with female cadres. Currently, the whole district has 7/41 female members of the Party Committee for the 2010-2015 term, accounting for 17% (an increase of 5.6% compared to the previous term), the People's Council has 12/50 female members (reaching 24%); Grassroots level: The percentage of female members of the Party Committee is 112/574 female members, accounting for 19.5% (an increase of 2% compared to the previous term); the People's Council has 226/1004 female members, reaching 22.5% (an increase of 3% compared to the previous term). Of which, 26 female members are heads and deputy heads of departments, branches, unions and agencies located in the district; 22 women are members of the Standing Committee, Standing Committee of the People's Committee, People's Council at the commune and town levels, including 3 Secretaries, 5 Deputy Secretaries of the Party Committee, 1 Chairwoman of the People's Committee, 3 Vice Chairmen of the People's Committee. Most of the female cadres have promoted their capacity and strengths, and completed their assigned tasks well. However, the number of female cadres taking on key leadership roles is still low.

Women of Moi village, Thanh Son commune (Anh Son) contribute rice to the "Rice Saving Jar" at the home of Ms. Vi Thi Thuy - Head of the Women's Association. Photo: Diep Anh.

Increasing the proportion of women participating in Party committees is a criterion of special concern in the Party's personnel work strategy. In the 2010-2015 term, the proportion of women participating in Party committees in our province is as follows: Provincial Party Committee: 5/65 = 7.2%; District Party Committee: 122/777 = 15.7%; Commune Party Committee: 1313/7621 = 17.2%. However, to ensure the proportion of 30% or more of women participating in National Assembly deputies and People's Council deputies at all levels according to the direction of the Prime Minister and the National Committee for the Advancement of Women is not a simple task.

Due to many reasons: the awareness of many Party committees and authorities about this work is still inadequate regarding gender and gender equality in the political system as well as in society. The assessment of female cadres at some levels and sectors is not objective, not scientific, and there is still a lack of trust in the ability of female cadres. Therefore, there is a lack of consistency between words and actions in the work of female cadres. In addition, the current policy mechanism for female cadres is still inadequate and not synchronous, the issue of gender and female cadres has not been included in a number of economic and social regimes and policies such as: promotion age, retirement age, salary policy, etc.

While starting from the same point, women still have to fulfill their roles as mothers and wives, the age of promotion and retirement is still discriminated against, which will make the structure of female cadres and the number of female cadres, which is already low, even lower. Along with that, the state of contentment, inferiority, fear of conflict, fear of changing the working environment is still quite common among women. Some female cadres do not have the will to strive to improve, some have narrow-minded thoughts, cling to each other, do not honor and create conditions for each other. This is one of the causes of significant obstacles to the work of female cadres today.

In order to build a contingent of female cadres to ensure quantity and quality, "Strengthening leadership of female cadre work in the period of promoting industrialization and modernization of the country" and "Training and fostering ethnic minority cadres, female cadres, grassroots cadres, promising young cadres", Party committees and authorities at all levels in the province have proactively disseminated and propagated the Party's guidelines and policies and the State's laws on women. Thereby creating a positive change in the awareness of Party committees and authorities at all levels towards gender equality and the advancement of women.

Mr. Phan Thanh Hung - Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Ben Thuy Ward said: In recent times, the ward has paid great attention to the training of female cadres, given priority to planning women for positions, and created conditions for women to participate in studying to improve their qualifications in both professional and political theory. Currently, the ward has 2 women participating in the Party Committee, 6 women are heads and deputy heads of mass organizations, and 1 woman is vice chairwoman of the Ward People's Committee. In the near future, we will add 2-3 women to the Party Committee. However, in reality, the proportion of female cadres is still not guaranteed according to regulations.

In his Testament, President Ho Chi Minh wrote: "Women themselves must strive to rise up. That is a revolution that brings true equality to women." Therefore, with the attention of Party committees at all levels, female cadres need to proactively overcome difficulties, strive, improve their qualities and qualifications in all aspects, assert their qualifications, and know how to harmoniously combine family work and social work. Only then can women consolidate their position and role, contributing more to the development of the country.

Duy Nam