ASEAN ministers seek measures to improve social welfares for women, girls

Meeting the media after the event’s conclusion, Nguyen Thi Ha, Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, head of the Vietnamese delegation at the event, said throughout the meeting, participants joined several meetings, policy dialogues and conferences on women and the economy.

They discussed integrated agenda on women’s economic power in the ASEAN, as well as an ASEAN action plan on elimination of violence against women, along with challenges related to gender equality and ensuring women and girls’ rights in the region, including climate change, natural disasters, digital era’s impacts and discrimination against women.

At sideline conferences and a closed meeting on October 25, ministers exchanged ideas on social welfare for women and girls towards the ASEAN Vision 2025. They agreed that women and girls are still disadvantaged groups in accessing and enjoying opportunities and resources due to gender preconceptions. They expressed hope that in the future, ASEAN countries will work more closely in building cooperation programmes.

The ministers also pointed to progress in ASEAN collaboration in promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, along with current trends, and challenges facing the groups in ASEAN and ways to deal with the problems.

The AMMW-3 issued a joint statement which will be submitted to the ASEAN Summit in November 2018 in Singapore. The statement focuses on training and providing new skills for women and the formation of life-long learning networks in ASEAN to match changes in employment amidst the fourth industrial revolution; the ensuring of sustainable employment for all people and the removing of all obstacles facing women in accessing resources and jobs; the improvement of social welfare for women and girls; and the expansion of policy coverage.

At the meeting, Vietnamese Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung took the charge of the Chair of the AMMW-3 for the 2018-2021 tenure.

Deputy Minister Ha said that as the new AMMW-3 Chair, Vietnam has given five initiatives, including the theme of the meeting – social welfare for women and girls.