A workshop was held in Hanoi on March 23 to seek measures to promote gender equality in political activities.

Theevent was organised by the National Committee for the Advancement ofWomen in Vietnam in conjunction with Oxfam in Vietnam, the Centre forStudies and Applied Sciences in Gender-Family-Women and Adolescents(CSAGA), and the Centre for Education Promotion and Empowerment of Women(CEPEW).

It focused on updating gender equality-related issuesin Vietnam and rolling out solutions to realise the goals of theNational Strategy on Gender Equality for 2011-2020 on enhancing femaleparticipation in managerial and leadership positions, aiming to narrowthe gender gap in politics.

Participants analysed theinvolvement of women in elected bodies and recent initiatives providingtraining for key female personnel working in politics.

Statisticsreported at the workshop revealed the rate of women in politicalentities remains low resulting from limited public awareness of genderequality and the role of women, especially in rural and remote areas.

Attendeessuggested it is necessary to enhance trainings for leadership of Partycommittees at all levels and managerial officials in the coming time.

Theyalso stressed the need to intensify communication efforts to raisepublic awareness of gender equality both broadly and in politics andcontinue to build a strategy for training core female personnel servingin the government and sectors.-VNA