UN Women champions for equal retirement age in Viet Nam

UN Women has championed a joint position paper with other UN agencies in Viet Nam. The discussion paper urges Viet Nam to equalize the retirement age for men and women and to elevate women to decision-making positions. The paper was released to coincide with the Consultation Forum on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

The retirement age for women (55 compared with 60 for men) reverberates throughout the working lives of women in Viet Nam, contributing to other direct and indirect forms of discrimination against women and affecting income, promotion, training opportunities, and the proportion of women who reach senior positions in the government, civil service and other key organizations, according to the UN.

Viet Nam signed CEDAW, known as the international human rights bill for women, in 1980 and ratified it in 1982. Since then, the country has reported to the CEDAW committee several times, most recently in 2006.  Viet Nam is preparing to submit the Country Combined 7th and 8th Periodic Report on the implementation of CEDAW by the end of 2012.  

Speaking at the consultation forum, Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Pham Minh Huan said that Viet Nam had made great progress in promoting gender equality and women's rights, as well as in correcting discriminatory practices in education and employment. However, challenges remain due to persistent gender inequality, the low status of women in society and violence within the family.

"Although considerable progress has been made toward implementing CEDAW, significant challenges remain," said UN Resident coordinator Pratibha Mehta. "Viet Nam has a high and rising sex ratio at birth; women continue to be paid less than men and are concentrated in the informal economy, largely as unpaid family laborers."

CEDAW expert Pramila Patten speaks at the Consultation Forum on the Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in Hanoi.
Photo: UN Women/Michael Fountoulakis

Pramila Patten, CEDAW Committee member, said countries must ensure that there was no direct or indirect discrimination against women in their laws and that women were protected against discrimination – committed by public authorities, the judiciary, organizations, public and private enterprises. "Above all implementation requires strong political will from governments and an empowered civil society," she said. "Whilst it may be too much to expect that many female victims will come to know of CEDAW, it's not too much to hope that committed individuals will find the convention a valuable cause."

The session concluded by flagging more attention to consultative legislative procedures aiming to advocate for rights of disadvantaged groups of women. After the morning session, some UN agencies discussed how to mainstream CEDAW in other specific UN programmes and simultaneously support the government to improve the implementation, monitoring and reporting process of CEDAW. 

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This activity is supported under the UN Women’s regional project, Regional Mechanisms to Protect the Human Rights of Women and Girls in Southeast Asia funded by the Canadian International Development Agency