Programme honours Vietnamese women

The event aims to honour women who have a big influence on the community and make significant contributions to national building and development. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and former Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan presented the 2016 Kovalevskai award to female scientists from the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology and Professor, PhD Nguyen Kim Phi Phung, a lecturer of chemistry at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Science. The award, named after the great Russian mathematician Sofia Kovalevskaia, was established in 1985 to honour outstanding female scientists. Some 100 women with contributions to science, education, health, economics, agriculture, and charitable activities received certificates of merit from the Vietnam Women's Union. Speaking at the programme, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said addressing gender inequality is a crucial part of the millennium target programmes. It's necessary to build a national action programme on gender equality along with enacting the Law on Gender Equality, he said, adding that the Government has requested the Ministry of Labour, Invalid and Social Affairs to work with the Vietnam Women's Union to implement this programme. Improving the legal system and promoting communication on gender equality at all levels is also important, he noted. The Government is preparing a bill for submission to the National Assembly to approve the law on developing small-and medium-sized enterprises, focusing on female entrepreneurs, he said. The PM noted that Vietnam had more than 110,000 businesses in 2016, but only a small proportion of them are owned by women. The Government has designed a programme to help women run small-and medium-sized businesses, he said. In Vietnam, nearly 50 percent of workers are women and the start-up programme was launched for both men and women, but the Government will pay special attention to small-and medium-sized enterprises run by women, he affirmed. He hoped 35 percent of small-and medium-sized companies will be owned by women in 2020. The PM also pledged to approve a project supporting female entrepreneurs of the Vietnam Women's Union.

(Source: VNA)