Ethnic Minority Women Need More Support

Women from ethnic minority groups still face limited access to beneficial development policies, a conference in Hanoi heard on August 12. The workshop was held to discuss challenges and solutions to promote the development of ethnic women with the aim of leaving no one behind. Many ethnic minority women are unable to fully access opportunities presented by development programs, meaning they still lag behind in some areas, said Chairwoman of the Vietnam Women’s Union Nguyen Thi Thu Ha. The rate of illiteracy among women from ethnic minorities is nearly 27%, while the rate of male illiteracy is around 14%. Only 33% of ethnic minority girls attend high school at the right age and a mere 7.2% of female workers in ethnic minority areas get professional and technical training, according to Ha.
Among ethnic minority households, the rate of land and home ownership among women is 26%, significantly lower than the rate of 56% among women from the Kinh group – the main ethnic group of Vietnam. Although the Party and State pay great attention to developing the mountainous and ethnic minority areas, the gap is expected to increase as the society develops rapidly because ethnic minority women face many barriers, she said “Poverty and fewer opportunities to get access to basic social services are key barriers leaving ethnic minority women behind in the development process,” Ha said. Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa from the National Assembly’s Committee for Culture, Education, Youth, Adolescents and Children said many policies designed to support ethnic minority women are not strategic enough and lack proper plans and therefore often overlap, reducing their efficacy. Shortcomings remained in policies promoting gender equality in ethnic minority areas, she said, adding that only 3.4% of 118 policies and programs supporting development for these areas have regulations relating to gender equality. Participants at the conference also pointed to limitations in implementing policies due to a lack of resources and overlapping management authority of ministries. Kamal Malhotra, UN Resident Coordinator in Vietnam, said Vietnam has joined many treaties and agreements on women and has made progress on gender inequality among ethnic minority communities in the fields of economy, labor education, training and healthcare. With Vietnam committed to implementing the Sustainable Development Goals with the aim of leaving nobody behind, he suggested the country’s efforts to end gender inequality in ethnic minority areas must be built upon Vietnam's existing international commitments. The UN was willing to support Vietnam in this important work, he said. Head of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee’s Commission on Mass Mobilization, Truong Thi Mai, said the Party and State consider ethnic minority affairs an urgent, long-term issue with priority given to the comprehensive development of mountainous and ethnic minority areas, particularly in infrastructure. She stressed that equality and opportunities are important for ethnic minority people, especially women, and that they should be encouraged to access education. (Vietnam News Aug 13)