PV:Madam, the image of Nghe An women has always been known for their good qualities such as being patient, hard-working, self-sacrificing, and working hard for their husbands and children. Entering modern life with many changing social values, in your opinion, in addition to those good traditional values, what has changed in the role and position of women?
Ms. Nguyen Thi Quynh Hoa:It must be said that, nowadays, women in general, Nghe An women in particular, besides the traditional qualities passed down from generation to generation, in the modern life with a more complete awareness of gender equality, exposure to knowledge, science, technology... are no longer confined to housework; but women actively participate in social activities, constantly research, cultivate their abilities to gradually improve themselves; at the same time, strive to assert their role and position in all areas of economic, political and social life.
In Nghe An, women account for 49.14% of the workforce, diverse in composition and regions. Inheriting and promoting the historical, cultural and traditional values of the nation, the unique culture of Nghe An people, in recent years, Nghe An women have united, overcome difficulties to achieve many remarkable achievements. The number of women who are "good at public affairs, good at housework" has increased every year. The force of female entrepreneurs is always dynamic, sensitive to the market, affirming their capacity and bravery in the marketplace, accompanying the Association at all levels to carry out social security activities.
In rural and mountainous areas, women have been proactive, creative and active in the movement to eliminate hunger and reduce poverty, shift production towards concentration, apply science and technology to improve the efficiency of cultivation and animal husbandry, becoming the core force in the movement to build new rural areas. More and more models of family farms, ranches, associations, cooperatives and cooperatives led by women have appeared, creating jobs for women in the locality.
In the political system, female deputies of the 14th National Assembly (2016-2021 term) and the 15th National Assembly (2021-2025 term) both reached 30.8%, putting Nghe An in the group of provinces and cities with a high proportion of female deputies of the National Assembly nationwide. Many women hold key roles at all levels and sectors; the proportion of female deputies to People's Councils at all levels, the proportion of Party agencies, socio-political organizations, People's Committees, departments and sectors at all levels with key female leaders is increasing. These are encouraging signs proving the important role of Nghe An women in the current period.
PV:Besides the achievements, in your opinion, what challenges do women face in the current period?
Ms. Nguyen Thi Quynh Hoa:In the modern trend, the 4th industrial revolution has been taking place strongly on a global scale and creating many changes in all social classes, including women. Therefore, professional and technical qualifications can be considered the biggest challenge for female workers when this revolution takes place. Ensuring employment, efficiency, labor productivity and income generation for female workers is a major issue. In particular, the situation of limiting the use of female workers aged 35 and over is an emerging issue in the labor market, causing female workers to face the risk of reduced income, even loss of income due to reduced working hours or job loss if they do not keep up with advances in science and technology.
On the other hand, although Nghe An is one of the localities with a high rate of women-owned businesses, most businesses are still small-scale and few are in the innovative and creative startup ecosystem. Therefore, in the face of market fluctuations, many businesses face difficulties in accessing capital, information, knowledge, skills and business networks.
Along with that, women's journey to rise also faces many barriers. With family and social responsibilities on their shoulders, balancing family life and work is also extremely difficult. Sociological surveys have given remarkable warnings: Women have worked very hard in both social and family aspects. In society, women have to work like men, but in the family, most women often have to take on many functions: being a mother, taking care of the family and raising children more than men. This situation is even more clearly depicted in rural and mountainous areas.
PV:Faced with these challenges, enhancing economic empowerment is considered one of the solutions to gradually affirm and honor the value of women in modern society. So what have the Women's Unions at all levels done to support women in this area?
Ms. Nguyen Thi Quynh Hoa:Accompanying female members in recent times, the Women's Union at all levels has synchronously and effectively implemented solutions such as: Training and fostering to improve professional qualifications for female workers; implementing consulting and job introduction activities to expand opportunities for female workers to access jobs in the labor market; communicating to raise awareness among female workers about the 4.0 revolution applied in production and business, training women on how to sell on social networking platforms, etc.
In 2022 alone, the Association at all levels selected 29 ideas to participate in the contest "Searching for creative startup talents in Nghe An in 2022" organized by the People's Committee of Nghe An province and sent 7 ideas to participate in the program "Em-Power Woman Venture, Because you are the reason to live" implemented by the Center for the Development of Women in the North Central Coast. In addition, coordinating with related sectors to support 14,133 members and women to participate in vocational training; supporting the establishment of 5 cooperatives; building 41 cooperative groups, with 624 members participating; supporting 6 cooperatives to connect to borrow capital from the Cooperative Development Support Fund, with a total loan capital of 4,614 million VND.
The Association at all levels has paid attention to supporting women's businesses and supporting women members to improve their capacity, contributing to enhancing women's economic power such as: Supporting capacity building for 156 women business owners, 801 women business owners, 29 women cooperative managers; supporting training, consulting, connecting, accessing information and markets for 570 women's businesses; supporting the establishment of 41 new women's businesses.
In mountainous areas and ethnic minority areas - where women still face many disadvantages, in recent years, under the direction and support of the Provincial Women's Union, the program "Accompanying women in the border areas" has been effectively implemented in many border communes of Ky Son, Tuong Duong, Con Cuong and Que Phong districts such as: Na Ngoi, Muong Ai, Nam Can, Nam Can, My Ly, Dooc May, Bac Ly; Keng Du, Tri Le, Hanh Dich, Mon Son, Tam Quang... Thereby, there have been practical actions such as supporting house construction, loans for member households, poor women to borrow within 3 years without interest to buy local breeds (black chickens, black pigs, goats, cows) to develop the economy.
Along with that, the association cooperates with local border posts to build models of “Protecting border security and sovereignty”, “Building a strong border association base”, “Happy Family” Clubs associated with livelihood models. These are solid stepping stones to help women here build sustainable livelihoods, gradually affirming their value.
PV:It is known that by 2022, Nghe An still has 6/28 targets of the National Strategy on Gender Equality that have not been achieved as planned. So, in your opinion, what needs to be done to ensure equal rights for women in the current period?
Ms. Nguyen Thi Quynh Hoa:Gender equality does not mean always giving priority to women but promoting equal opportunities for women and men so that they can develop and fully develop their abilities and capacities in social life.
Gender discrimination occurs in many subtle forms, such as women’s voice in the family, ensuring women’s right to rest and improve their qualifications, as well as more obvious forms, such as the increasing gender imbalance at birth. This is especially evident in ethnic minority and remote areas.
To protect women's rights more effectively, it requires the participation of all levels, sectors and the efforts of the Women's Union and women's forces. In particular, it is necessary to attach importance to building a network to monitor law enforcement and perfect the social feedback mechanism. The Government has issued many policies to promote gender equality in various fields and assigned specific tasks to each ministry, department and sector directly involved in implementation. For example, Project 8 on "Implementing gender equality and solving urgent problems of women and children" in ethnic minority and mountainous areas is an important premise for achieving gender equality goals in Nghe An.
In recent times, taking the emulation movement "Building Nghe An women of the new era: Having knowledge, morality, health and aspirations to rise up, being responsible for themselves, their families and the Fatherland" as the focus, women's associations at all levels have supported women to develop comprehensively with many creative, proactive ways and with specific roadmaps. These efforts have partly eliminated gender prejudices in society. However, when each person equips themselves with sufficient knowledge, clearly understands the nature and challenges of the times, women will improve their capacity to have higher skills, adapting to the new requirements of the times.
PV:On the occasion of International Women's Day (March 8), what message do you want to send to mothers, sisters, and girls?
Ms. Nguyen Thi Quynh Hoa:I still remember clearly the story of Uncle Vu Ky, Uncle Ho's personal secretary, who said: "In May 1968, Uncle Ho re-read the Will and felt the need to add a few more points about women". Then, in the Will, Uncle Ho wrote the sentence: "...Women themselves must strive to rise up. That is a revolution that brings true equality to women". Perhaps the confidence to affirm one's own value in all circumstances is the most important factor for women to affirm their mettle, intelligence and enhance their value. That is what I myself and all levels of the Women's Union of Nghe An province always hope for and strive every day so that women can achieve that.
PV:Thanks for the chat!