Hanoi (VNA) – During the country’s multi-thousand year history of national foundation and defence, Vietnamese women ♋always played an important role and made great contributions to creating the glorious traditions of the nation.

In the renewal and integration period, in addition to taking care of their families, women nationwide affirmed their activeness and creativity in all aspects of life, contributing to successfully realising socio-economic development goals, maintaining political stability, expanding international relations, and strengthening national defence and security. They have also asserted their increasingly important role in society, proven by the huge number of female politicians, leaders, managers, scientists and entrepreneurs. In the political arena, the position of women has continually improved. Females account for 24.4 percent of total deputies of the 13 th National Assembly and 31 percent of employees at State agencies. Many women have undertaken high positions in Party and State agencies. Vietnamese women have significantly contributed to the national construction. At present, they make up more than half of the country’s workforce. They are a high proportion of the workforce in the sectors of processing, garment, footwear, trade and services industries; as well as engaging more and more in economic sectors that require high professional knowledge and technology. Over the past year, many women have bravely set up collective economic models that meet the needs of themselves and the market. As many as 1,224 cooperatives and groups of cooperatives have been established with the involvement of nearly 18,000 female labourers, helping the national programme on rural area building come to a finish soon. Businesswomen now account for 25 percent of total Vietnamese entrepreneurs, and they are trying their best to develop the country. Females have also made great contributions to other fields such as education, health, science-technology, and poverty reduction. In the 2010-2015 period, close to 600 women were conferred with professor and associate professor titles, while more than 2 million others received training to apply scientific and technological advances in farming and animal breeding. Assessing the role of Vietnamese women, the 10 th Politburo’s Resolution No. 11 – NQ/TW concerning women’s affairs during the period of stepped-up national industrialisation and modernisation, affirmed that women play a very important role in society’s development. During the history of national foundation and safeguarding, women always made great contributions to socio-economic development and the building of an independent, self-strengthening country that was ready to fight foreign invaders to safeguard national independence. It can be said that Vietnamese women have always been a pride of the nation as President Ho Chi Minh stated: “The country of Vietnam becomes more and more beautiful and brilliant thanks to the tireless efforts by women of both young and old ages”.-VNA