Prime Minister: Planning female leadership resources is the responsibility of the leader

On the afternoon of March 7, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired a meeting with female leaders and managers of central agencies and presented the Kovalevskaia Prize.

Speaking at the opening of the meeting, Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra affirmed that women of all walks of life have continuously promoted their glorious traditions of kindness, solidarity, intelligence, dynamism, creativity, overcoming all difficulties and challenges...

The Prime Minister presented the 2022 Kovalevskaia Prize to scientists with outstanding scientific research works. Photo: VGP

The work of female cadres has had positive changes and achieved remarkable results. The number and quality of qualified female leaders and managers are increasing, the age of female leaders and managers is getting younger; the position of female leaders and managers is affirmed and recognized not only domestically but also in the region and the world.

Currently, there are 19 female cadres participating in the 13th Party Central Committee (accounting for 9.5%), including 1 female Politburo member; 2 women in the Secretariat; 1 female Vice President; 3 female Ministers and 1 female leader of a government agency, 10 female Deputy Ministers and equivalent; 3 female members of the National Assembly Standing Committee and 34 female Vice Chairmen and Standing Members of committees and agencies of the National Assembly. The Provincial Party Executive Committee (term 2020 - 2025) has 16% women, including 7 female Secretaries and 15 female Deputy Secretaries of provincial and municipal Party Committees. The District Party Executive Committee has 17% women.

The proportion of women participating in elected bodies increased compared to the previous term, with 151 female delegates participating in the 15th National Assembly, reaching 30.26% (3.54% higher than the previous term and exceeding the target of 30%); the proportion of women participating in provincial and district People's Councils reached 29% (an increase compared to the previous term). With this ratio, Vietnam is in the top group of countries in the world with a high proportion of women in politics.

There are 24/263 female leaders at the provincial level, including 2 female Chairmen of the People's Committees and 22 female Vice Chairmen of the Provincial People's Committees. 61/63 provinces and centrally-run cities have female officials participating in the Standing Committee, with the lowest rate at the provincial level being 11.3% and the highest being 35%; at the district level it is 15.3% (3.4% higher than the previous term).

With their capacity and prestige with the Party and the People, many women have been trusted by the Party and State to hold high positions of responsibility in the leadership apparatus of the Party and State in recent years.

President of the Vietnam Women's Union Ha Thi Nga said that although women make up an average of 40% of officials at all levels, they only hold about 21% of key leadership positions.

In fact, Vietnam's gender gap index in 2022 ranked 83rd, but in terms of gender gap in political participation, Vietnam ranked 106th out of 146 countries.

Women are also concerned about violence, abuse of women and children, divorce among young couples, family values, traditions, and family education facing many challenges due to the impact of social networks.

One of the forms of honoring and recognizing the contributions of Vietnamese women is the Kovalevskaia Award, with the Vietnam Women's Union as the standing body, advising the Award Council. This is the first and very prestigious award for female scientists with many achievements in the field of natural science research, which has been maintained for the past 37 years with 21 groups and 52 outstanding female scientists in the fields of natural science.

Speaking at the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh shared that since the dawn of the nation’s history, Vietnamese women have upheld the spirit of patriotism, indomitability, and indomitable spirit. In the nation’s great patriotic wars, the shining examples of female revolutionary soldiers and Vietnamese Heroic Mothers are noble symbols of revolutionary heroism.

Nowadays, regardless of the circumstances, positions, and working roles, Vietnamese women always uphold the traditional values ​​and good qualities, solidarity, dynamism, creativity, "good at public affairs, good at housework", and make great contributions to the cause of building and defending the Fatherland. Our Party and State always pay deep attention to the work of female cadres and gender equality.

The Prime Minister emphasized a number of results, the proportion of female leaders and managers in Party and State agencies has been improved in quantity and quality. The proportion of female National Assembly deputies in our country accounts for 30.3%, ranking 64th in the world, 4th in Asia and leading in Southeast Asian countries, with capacity, vision and innovative thinking. Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, and government agencies with key female leaders account for 50%, approaching the target set for 2025.

Most recently, the Politburo assigned Ms. Truong Thi Mai - Politburo member, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Head of the Central Organization Commission to hold the position of Permanent Secretary of the Secretariat, the first woman to hold this position.

The number of female intellectuals participating in scientific research is increasing; there are many successes domestically and internationally, recognized by the world, bringing high economic value. Among them, many groups and individuals have been awarded the noble Kovalevskaia Prize.

The contributions of women in other fields are enormous, from farmers, workers, artists, civil servants, teachers, journalists, lawyers, businesswomen, to athletes, diplomats, armed forces, soldiers participating in United Nations peacekeeping forces...

The Prime Minister emphasized that in every family, women are the ones who keep the warmth and fire, are the resource and driving force for family development and contribute to the overall development of the country and society.

The Prime Minister requested all levels, sectors, localities, and women's associations to focus on effectively implementing the National Strategy on Gender Equality for the 2021-2030 period.

The Prime Minister said that more attention should be paid to planning female cadres for leadership and management positions at all levels, in all sectors and fields. This is a regular, important task and the responsibility of the entire political system, especially the leaders.

The Ministry of Home Affairs effectively implemented the Project on Training and Capacity Building for young leaders and managers and female leaders and managers of local governments abroad for the period 2023-2025.

Create an environment and conditions to promote the role of female intellectuals, promote startups, innovation, application of science and technology, especially artificial intelligence, internet of things, big data, blockchain...