The Ministry of Finance is making some initial attempts to incorporate gender equality into the state financial policies.
Housework, or unpaid work in Vietnam are mostly undertaken by women, according to the 2015 research on gender equality in Vietnam conducted by the Institute for Social Development Studies. Nearly 80% of women are responsible for childcare, compared to only 5-10% of men at the same age group. Phạm Thu Hiền, a gender expert gave an example on how policy could ease the burden of childcare in Vietnam, regarding the New Rural Development Policy.
Pham Thu Hien, Gender Expert said: “People might prefer to build new roads that connect districts, which bring more benefits to men than women. But women living in villages really need kindergartens so they can send their children there during working hours. This proves that money allocation for projects reflect differences in satisfying male and female needs”.
According to the amended Law on State Budget in 2015, Vietnam for the 1st time took into consideration the budget allocation towards gender equality. Financial policies play an important role in ensuring women’s rights, especially in easing the burden of housework. Vietnam is learning from the experiences of other countries to tackle the issue.
Vietnam is receiving support from international organisations on developing gender responsive budgets. Staff from the Ministry of Finance took part in a gender awareness raising workshop for financial policy making, with trainers from UN Women and the financial support from the Embassy of Canada to Vietnam.
With this approach, the concept of gender responsive budgets will help Vietnam promote gender equality in a more wide-ranging and effective way.
