Ho Chi Minh City authorities and companies have unveiled numerousmeasures to benefit female workers in industrial parks and zones inrecent years.
Of more than 268,000 workers in thecity's 15 industrial parks and export processing zones, 161,000 arewomen, according to the HCM City Industrial Park and Export ProcessingZone Authority (HEPZA).
Since 2008, HEPZA has workedwith trade unions and the Workers Supporting Foundation to providescholarships and interest-free loans to outstanding women workers whowant to improve their education and professional skills.
Nguyen Van Khai, deputy chairman of the city's Confederation ofLabour, said his agency has worked with local authorities and companiesto organise activities to benefit female workers in industrial parks andexport processing zones.
It has also stepped up oversight to ensure companies follow labour law provisions, he said.
The confederation's women's boards have organised activities toprovide 6.5 billion VND (309,000 USD) to more than 7,900 workers who hadworkplace accidents, serious sickness, and general difficulties thisyear.
The boards have also organised periodic healthchecks for women workers, launched a programme to help them repairtheir houses, and provided them with information about job vacanciesfree of charge.
Many companies too have programmesto benefit their female employees such as building dormitories andproviding them with sports and other entertainment activities.
Women are employed mostly in sectors like textile and garment, leather, footwear, electronics, and food processing.
A large number of them come from other provinces but seldom take partin amusement activities because they do not have money to spend on themor are too tired to go looking for them.
TheInstitute of Community Health and Development organised on August 28 anorientation workshop for their new project, "We are Women – ARights-based Approach to Empowering Migrant Women in Vietnam."
Provided 200,000 USD by the Fund for Gender Equality, the project aimsto improve rural migrant women's access to socio-economic rights,especially those working in the informal sector.
Women migrants face various risks stemming from their inability, in manycases, to access basic services and adequate living conditions; theirdifferential treatment in the labour market; and the social stigmaattached to them.
Moreover, there is evidence tosuggest that some migrant women in Vietnam are particularly vulnerableto gender-based violence as they are engaged in domestic work hiddenfrom the outside world and difficult to regulate, though the new LabourCode recognises domestic workers.
If these genderissues are not recognised and addressed properly, it is feared that newsocio-economic empowerment achievements will lack sustainability andtransformative power.
The project is expected toenhance the rights of women migrant workers, including increased accessto the use of social welfare and health services; increase capacity ofrural migrant men and women to access and utilise economic empowermentopportunities; and usher in gender equality to strengthen socio-economicpositions of rural migrant women, both at destination places andhometowns.
The project will be managed and led byLIGHT, a non-governmental organisation which has been working with ruralmigrants for the last 10 years.
Its four mainpartners include people's committees, the Women's Union, and the FarmersUnion at all levels and a cooperative of migrants it supports.
The project will be implemented in five wards in Hanoi (destination place) and six rural communes (places of origin).
An estimated 1,140 women and 1,090 men will directly benefit from theinterventions through the project, while another 6,270 women and 5,630men will be indirect beneficiaries as a result of improvements.-VNA
Of more than 268,000 workers in thecity's 15 industrial parks and export processing zones, 161,000 arewomen, according to the HCM City Industrial Park and Export ProcessingZone Authority (HEPZA).
Since 2008, HEPZA has workedwith trade unions and the Workers Supporting Foundation to providescholarships and interest-free loans to outstanding women workers whowant to improve their education and professional skills.
Nguyen Van Khai, deputy chairman of the city's Confederation ofLabour, said his agency has worked with local authorities and companiesto organise activities to benefit female workers in industrial parks andexport processing zones.
It has also stepped up oversight to ensure companies follow labour law provisions, he said.
The confederation's women's boards have organised activities toprovide 6.5 billion VND (309,000 USD) to more than 7,900 workers who hadworkplace accidents, serious sickness, and general difficulties thisyear.
The boards have also organised periodic healthchecks for women workers, launched a programme to help them repairtheir houses, and provided them with information about job vacanciesfree of charge.
Many companies too have programmesto benefit their female employees such as building dormitories andproviding them with sports and other entertainment activities.
Women are employed mostly in sectors like textile and garment, leather, footwear, electronics, and food processing.
A large number of them come from other provinces but seldom take partin amusement activities because they do not have money to spend on themor are too tired to go looking for them.
TheInstitute of Community Health and Development organised on August 28 anorientation workshop for their new project, "We are Women – ARights-based Approach to Empowering Migrant Women in Vietnam."
Provided 200,000 USD by the Fund for Gender Equality, the project aimsto improve rural migrant women's access to socio-economic rights,especially those working in the informal sector.
Women migrants face various risks stemming from their inability, in manycases, to access basic services and adequate living conditions; theirdifferential treatment in the labour market; and the social stigmaattached to them.
Moreover, there is evidence tosuggest that some migrant women in Vietnam are particularly vulnerableto gender-based violence as they are engaged in domestic work hiddenfrom the outside world and difficult to regulate, though the new LabourCode recognises domestic workers.
If these genderissues are not recognised and addressed properly, it is feared that newsocio-economic empowerment achievements will lack sustainability andtransformative power.
The project is expected toenhance the rights of women migrant workers, including increased accessto the use of social welfare and health services; increase capacity ofrural migrant men and women to access and utilise economic empowermentopportunities; and usher in gender equality to strengthen socio-economicpositions of rural migrant women, both at destination places andhometowns.
The project will be managed and led byLIGHT, a non-governmental organisation which has been working with ruralmigrants for the last 10 years.
Its four mainpartners include people's committees, the Women's Union, and the FarmersUnion at all levels and a cooperative of migrants it supports.
The project will be implemented in five wards in Hanoi (destination place) and six rural communes (places of origin).
An estimated 1,140 women and 1,090 men will directly benefit from theinterventions through the project, while another 6,270 women and 5,630men will be indirect beneficiaries as a result of improvements.-VNA
