Go to vote, see the word 'Thi' and cross out the name?

Society still has many prejudices about women's leadership ability when participating in "politics", so when some people go to vote, they always cross out the word "Thi".

According to the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, the percentage of female National Assembly deputies of the 13th tenure showed a significant decrease and was the lowest in the last 4 terms and within 20 years (from 1987 to 2007), female National Assembly deputies only increased by nearly 4%; women still face many prejudices and barriers when participating in "politics".

Go to vote, see the word "Thi" and cross it out

Speaking at“Media Orientation Workshop to Enhance Women's Participation in the National Assembly and People's Councils at All Levels”,held on April 11-12, Dr. Nguyen Si Dung, former Deputy Head of the Office of the National Assembly, emphasized that the current media messages related to gender equality in general and women participating in politics in particular still focus on describing negative aspects such as domestic violence; women who are leaders have to shoulder more responsibilities because they have to try to be good leaders and women according to traditional standards and styles; or make calls with designated slogans.

Female deputies of the 13th National Assembly during the break (Photo: KT)

“Although such information also contributes to raising awareness, the repetition of such messages will have the opposite effect of making the information inert and in many cases can create the opposite reaction, causing communication efforts to not achieve the expected results,” said Mr. Nguyen Si Dung.

A recent announcement by the Institute for Development Studies also shows that men hold more leadership positions than women. Society still has many prejudices about women's leadership capacity, when the majority believes that women are easily distracted by family work, are not capable of working under high pressure, are easily compromised; women do not have time and are not trusted.

In addition, when women are young, they are at the age of pregnancy and childbirth, so they do not have time for their careers. The people surveyed do not believe that women can cope with both “national” and “household” duties. In addition, people do not believe that young women will be capable of leadership. Even if there is a talented young woman, it will take many years of challenges to be promoted.

A woman responding to a survey by the Institute for Development Studies said: “In my opinion, public opinion is still prejudiced. People think that men are more capable than women. Now when it comes to elections, whenever they see the word Thi, they cross out everything. I am in the vote counting team, so I see that, people only cross out women.”

Want to be heard, vote for a woman

Mr. Nguyen Trong Dam, Deputy Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, Vice Chairman of the National Committee for the Advancement of Vietnamese Women affirmed: Increasing the proportion of female National Assembly and People's Council deputies at all levels is a particularly important target in the goal.“Increasing women's participation in management and leadership positions,to gradually reduce the gender gap in politics"of the National Strategy on Gender Equality for the 2011-2020 period.

Deputy Minister Nguyen Trong Dam said that our country's Constitution stipulates the equal rights of men and women in participating in all fields of the state and society. In terms of representation, participating in elected bodies means representing people of all social classes, occupations and genders. Women account for more than half of the world's population and this ratio is also true in our country.

Therefore, women must participate in elected bodies to have equal representation with men. On the other hand, women are not inferior to men in terms of capacity, especially in community work, contact and persuasion of all classes of people.

International experience shows that for women to have a decisive voice, they need at least 30% representation in the state apparatus.

For this reason, the 2015 Law on Election of National Assembly and People's Councils also stipulates: Ensuring that at least 35% of the total number of people on the official list of candidates for National Assembly and People's Council deputies are women. This is also an important and necessary measure to assess the socio-economic development of each country in the world.

However, according to Mr. Nguyen Trong Dam, politics is a field that is traditionally dominated by men. Social norms, stereotypes about women and their roles, perceptions of their abilities and perseverance. All of these together create enormous pressures, challenges and barriers for women who wish to participate in politics in general and elected bodies in particular.

Deputy Minister Nguyen Trong Dam affirmed: "It is necessary to break the stereotype that men are inherently more suitable for leadership positions than women."

Dr. Nguyen Si Dung also emphasized that it is necessary for voters to improve their understanding of the role and position of women in the leadership and management apparatus; reduce gender bias and actively support women in politics. In particular, it is necessary to build an image of men shouldering the burden of family work, husband and wife sharing the right to make decisions on important matters in life, men and women sharing the right to make decisions in the community and at the workplace.

Besides, it is the responsibility of female voters to participate in the election directly, not to "ask someone to vote on their behalf", losing their rights and obligations as citizens.

According to VOV