Gains in education for women
Vietnamese struggle against war's legacy
Ha Thi Khiet, pictured on the left, is president of the
Vietnam Women's Union and a member of the Central Committee of
the Communist Party of Vietnam. She spoke with a meeting of
supporters and friends from the United States in New York on
July 12. Khiet, a member of the Tay national minority and
chairperson of the National Committee for the Advancement of
Women in Vietnam (NCFAW), was in the city to attend a United
Nations meeting on the status of women.
Khiet told the meeting that NCFAW is a network of committees
organized in cities and villages throughout Vietnam to
represent and advocate for women's rights and advancement.
Citing some of the progress made, she pointed out that her
country has achieved 88 percent literacy among women; women
make up 46 percent of the students in higher education.
As a result of the U.S. imperialist war against Vietnam,
women are still suffering from the devastating effects of the
huge amount of dioxin-containing Agent Orange defoliant dropped
on the country. High rates of birth defects, said Khiet, is a
problem the Vietnamese will face for generations to come.
In particular, the Vietnam Women's Union and NCFAW
concentrate on improving the economic status of women through
job training. They are also involved in campaigns to fight the
trafficking in women and young girls and the spread of AIDS/HIV
that have plagued many poor Asian countries with the
encroachment of the Western imperialist powers into their
economies.
Khiet reported that the UN has cited Vietnam as among the
best examples of progress in the area of legal instruments to
protect women's rights. She noted that the Vietnamese
Constitution guarantees equal pay for equal work.
--Naomi Cohen
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)
HOME
:: U.S. NEWS ::
WORLD NEWS ::
EDITORIALS ::
SUBSCRIBE ::
DONATE
Email
this article
Printable
page