The opening ceremony and general debate of the 69th session of the United Nations Economic and Social Council’s Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) took place at the UN headquarters in New York on March 10-11.

The session focused on reviewing the outcomes of 30 years of carrying out the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action on gender equality and women's empowerment.

NA Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Thanh led the Vietnamese delegation attending the session.

In his opening speech, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned of the pervasive persistence of male dominance, gender-based violence, and discrimination, both in armed conflicts and cyberspace. He also mentioned economic disparities and the decline in international commitments, funding, and national budgets dedicated to gender equality.

Guterres reaffirmed that gender equality is a fundamental human right and called for increased investment in women and girls, greater access to quality education, market opportunities, and efforts to reduce unpaid labor. He also laid emphasis on the importance of combating gender-based violence, discrimination, and stigma, including in the digital space, while ensuring women’s participation in peacebuilding, decision-making, and business, particularly in emerging industries.

Emphasizing the critical role of women in leadership, the UN chief noted that for the first time, the UN has achieved and continues to maintain gender parity in leadership positions across its system.

On March 11, NA Vice Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Thanh delivered a keynote speech during the initial segment of the discussion for UN member states. She underscored the significance of the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, as well as the substantial progress made by the international community over the past 30 years.

However, she also pointed out ongoing challenges, noting that many women and girls still face conflicts, poverty, disease, and inequality, along with the risk of falling behind in the digital era. She cited projections indicating that it may take 137 years to eradicate extreme poverty among women and that gender balance in national parliaments may not be achieved before 2063.

Vice Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Thanh proposed three priority areas for promoting gender equality. First, strengthening institutional frameworks, laws, and policies to promote women's equal participation, especially in decision-making across all fields.

Second, enhancing women’s economic empowerment by boosting public-private partnerships to mobilize resources that support women's access to finance, markets, innovation, entrepreneurship, the digital economy, and the green economy. She also stressed the need for equal participation in the labor market, including recognizing, reducing, and redistributing unpaid care work while promoting the care economy.

Third, increasing women's involvement and leadership in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), innovation, digital transformation, and research. She emphasized the importance of building STEM ecosystems that encourage and support women and girls in pursuing education and careers in fields such as artificial intelligence, renewable energy, and the digital economy.

Highlighting Vietnam’s achievements and ongoing efforts, Vice Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Thanh said that Vietnamese women currently make up nearly one-third of NA deputies, nearly 40% of the STEM workforce, and own 26.5% of all enterprises. Additionally, 68.5% of the country’s labor force consists of women, significantly higher than the global average of 48.7%. Women also account for 14.4% of Vietnam’s peacekeeping forces, exceeding the UN average of 10.2%. Furthermore, Vietnam is actively promoting digital literacy, particularly among women and girls.

Thanh affirmed Vietnam’s commitment to proactively contributing to global efforts for gender equality, including in its roles as a member of the UN Human Rights Council for the 2023-2025 term and a member of the Executive Board of UN Women for the 2025-2027 term.

Vietnam places great importance on ensuring gender equality and advancing women’s empowerment, having achieved remarkable progress in this area. The country is recognized as one of the fastest in closing the gender gap over the past two decades and was among the earliest to meet the third Millennium Development Goal (MDG 3) on gender equality.

The nation presses forward with its strong efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly Goals 5 and 10, which focus on eliminating inequality, promoting gender equality, and empowering women and girls.

Progress seen in gender equality promotion in Vietnam: official

Vietnam has made considerable progress in promoting gender equality over the past years, and the Vietnam Women’s Union (VWU) has been applying itself to this work, said VWU Vice President Nguyen Thi Minh Huong.