Thanh Son is a resettlement commune of Ban Ve Hydropower Plant, located in the West of Thanh Chuong District, 35 km from the district center, with a border length of 7.8 km, with 7 ethnic groups including Thai, Kho Mu, Tay, Khmer, O Du, Mong and Kinh living. This is one of the difficult areas benefiting from Program 135; the poverty rate is high.
“When the majority of the population’s life is still difficult, young workers, especially men, often work far away, and there are only the elderly and children at home, the work of women in the family will inevitably be heavier and more difficult. Women have to participate in economic production for the family and take care of their children… Therefore, there is not much time left to participate in village and commune work, and in activities of mass organizations. Combined with a mentality of resignation and inferiority, the work of training and creating sources of Party members, especially female Party members, faces many difficulties,” said Mr. Lo Van Nguyen - Secretary of the Thanh Son Commune Party Committee.
Due to difficulties in resource creation, despite great efforts, in the past 2-3 years, the Party development work in Thanh Son resettlement commune has not met the target. In 2 years (2020-2021), the Party Committee of the commune has only admitted 10 party members, of which there is only 1 female ethnic minority party member, Ms. Luong Thi Bao in Thanh Tien village. In 2022, the target of admitting 11-13 party members, currently only 1 party member has been admitted, Ms. Lo Thi Thanh Giang, a college graduate, currently Secretary of the Cha Coong village Youth Union. However, 2 party members have been removed from the list, of which 1 female party member, Ms. Moong Thi Ngan in Cha Coong village, got married after admission and followed her husband to Con Cuong district and no longer participated in activities. “Next year, the Party cell still cannot find a source to recruit new members, because young, qualified workers go to work far away, while those at home have limited awareness and lack the will to strive. There are also some good women who want to join the Party but have not graduated from high school and have a third child”…; Mr. Lo Van Quy - Secretary of the Cha Coong village Party cell worries.
Similarly, in Ngoc Lam resettlement commune (Thanh Chuong), although female party members are still admitted every year, Mr. Vi Van Tuyen - Secretary of the Commune Party Committee is still "heavy-hearted" because the work of developing party members in general, and ethnic minority female party members in particular, especially in villages and hamlets in recent years has encountered many difficulties. In 2020, the whole commune only admitted 5 party members out of the assigned target of 12, including 2 ethnic minority female party members. In 2021, 9 party members were admitted (not meeting the district's target of 10, the target set by the Commune Party Congress Resolution of 12), including 5 ethnic minority female party members. In 2022, only 5 party members have been admitted, including 3 ethnic minority female party members. Notably, in the previous term, there were 2 female party members who were heads of villages and hamlets, but this term there are no female secretaries or village heads.
“Our difficulty is that many of the masses are truly outstanding and prestigious in the village. However, many of them do not meet the cultural standards, so it is impossible to train them. On the other hand, they also face obstacles from their families. Therefore, to mobilize and train outstanding female masses requires a lot of effort and perseverance, not only mobilizing them but also mobilizing their families and relatives, especially their husbands and parents-in-law, to support them,” said Mr. Vi Van Tuyen.
In remote villages and hamlets, many ethnic minority women do not know the common language. Life is difficult, and in some places, backward customs still exist (getting married at 13-14 years old, having many children, etc.). On the other hand, the mentality of "respecting men and despising women", "the wife cannot be more progressive than the husband" is also a barrier that makes women reluctant to strive.
Ms. Vu Y Do - Secretary of the Party Cell of Luu Thong Village (a Mong female Party member and the only female Party Cell Secretary in Luu Kien Commune, Tuong Duong District) shared: She can take on the responsibility of being the "locomotive" of the village because of the support of her family, husband, children and everyone, but not everyone is so lucky. In fact, in addition to "not having enough to eat and not having enough to worry about", in the community there is still prejudice and the attitude of "preferring men and despising women", so many families do not create conditions for Mong women to participate in social activities and strive to join the Party. Some women want to join the Party, like the current Head of the Women's Association of Luu Thong Mong Village, but her husband does not support her, so she cannot join the Party. "From 2005 until now, I am still the only Mong female Party member in Luu Thong Village and Luu Kien Commune", Ms. Y Do worried. Currently, in Luu Kien Commune, there are 74 female Party members; In 2022, up to now, only 3 outstanding people have been admitted to the Party, including 3 Thai ethnic women. The District Party Committee's Organizing Committee is sending 5 files for appraisal, of which 2 files are in Luu Thong village...
Discussing the difficulties in developing ethnic minority female party members, Mr. Luong Thanh Son - former Party Secretary of Luu Kien commune, now Party Secretary of Tam Thai commune (Tuong Duong) shared: "Women in the highlands suffer many disadvantages, have few opportunities to study, have limited qualifications and capacity to participate in social work, and have limited awareness of the Party, so it is difficult to meet the standards to create a source for Party development. Those who have enough qualifications and capacity are content with their lot, lack the will to strive or are busy with family work, do not receive family support, so their motivation to strive is "eliminated".
In Chau Khe commune (Con Cuong) - where the Thai, Kinh, and Dan Lai ethnic groups live together, although the work of developing ethnic minority female party members is still maintained every year (in 2020, 2 female Thai party members were admitted in the village; in 2021, 3 women were admitted, including 2 Thai people and 1 Dan Lai person; in 2022, by the end of August, only 1 female Thai party member was developed). However, according to Mr. Tran The Tai - Secretary of Chau Khe commune Party Committee, the work of developing female party members is still very confusing, because currently, many women of working age go to work far away. Some people, although capable, are entangled in family matters. There were women who attended the Party target class, but were later unable to join because they were working far away or because their relatives did not support them, such as the case of the Vice President of the Women's Association of Khe Na village, a Thai ethnic, who attended the Party sympathy class in 2020 and was about to complete the admission application but had to stop because her husband did not agree...
In some localities, the training and development of ethnic minority female party members is still mainly focused on teachers, health stations... while in the village and hamlet party cells, it has been almost "marking time" for many years.
From another perspective, talking about the reasons why the annual recruitment of female party members is still facing difficulties, especially the recruitment of female ethnic minority party members in rural areas, Ms. Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai - Head of the Organizing Committee of Que Phong District Party Committee said: The work of developing female ethnic minority party members is currently facing difficulties because some grassroots Party committees have not really paid attention to the training and fostering of female cadres and the development of female party members. The coordination between the Women's Union and the Youth Union in some places is not close in introducing female members of the Union's age to create a source for Party development.
On the other hand, according to Mr. Luong Van Noi - Deputy Secretary of the Thanh Son resettlement commune Party Committee (Thanh Chuong): "Some local emulation movements have not really attracted the participation of the masses, so the efforts of the masses are not clear. In addition, the work of propaganda, persuasion, and education of outstanding masses so that they have the aspiration to strive to join the Party in many Party cells has not been given attention... Some Party cells have not really done a good job of "skillful mass mobilization", they are only focusing on mobilizing the female masses, but have not paid attention to the need to coordinate "mass mobilization" synchronously from the family and relatives so that they support women in the family to strive to join the Party...".
In addition, according to the leaders of some grassroots Party organizations, the capacity and expertise of Party cell secretaries and Party cell committee members in some Party cells in mountainous, remote and isolated areas are still limited; they are not fully aware of the importance of developing ethnic minority female Party members, leading to not fulfilling their roles and responsibilities. On the other hand, in rural and mountainous areas, Party admission is not linked to competitive achievements like in agencies and schools, so the motivation to strive to join the Party of many people is not high and not enthusiastic.
This is also one of the "bottlenecks" that causes the rate of female ethnic minority party members in mountainous districts in the province to be low. Talking to us, Mr. Lang Van Hoe - Secretary of the Ke Mong village Party Cell, Chau Binh commune (Quy Chau) frankly shared: "In fact, our village is not lacking in personnel. In the Farmers' Association, Women's Association, Youth Union... there are still resources, but because the Party Committee has not directed and motivated in a timely manner, and has not closely followed each condition and circumstance, especially for the female masses, the Party development work has not been done well. In 2020-2021, the Party Cell could not admit any Party members, and 2 Party members (1 male, 1 female) went to work far away and asked to leave the Party. In 2022, the Party Cell has learned from experience and focused on implementing the work of creating resources, so it has admitted 2 female Party members from ethnic minorities, Ms. Ha Thi Hong (village and hamlet health worker) and Ms. Vi Thi Nhuong - Deputy Head of the Farmers' Association".
Besides, according to Mr. Kim Van Duyen - Secretary of Chau Binh Commune Party Committee (Quy Chau): "One of the solutions to motivate and encourage outstanding female masses to practice and strive to join the Party is to associate them with specific responsibilities and tasks in the village, such as heads and deputy heads of branches, organizations, group leaders and deputy heads of residential groups...; but currently, after merging villages and hamlets, these positions are not many anymore, so it is difficult to arrange and organize...".
In some villages and hamlets, despite efforts to recruit ethnic minority female party members into the Party, due to the Party cell's lack of attention and close supervision, and the lack of training and self-cultivation of female party members, they were forced to remove their names. For example, in Pha Lom village Party cell, Tam Hop commune (Tuong Duong), Party cell secretary Xong Ba Giay said: "In 2021, the Party cell removed the name of female party member Vu Y Mo because of a decline in her will to strive. It's a pity, but we have to strictly implement the Party's regulations...".
The above reality shows that, in order to promote the development of female party members in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, Party committees at all levels must continue to more clearly identify the important role of female party members from ethnic minorities. From there, there will be practical solutions in discovering, planning and nurturing the development source of "nucleus" women in villages and hamlets...
