English - CEDAW Southeast Asia

CEDAW and the Law:
Practical measures to assist women to be elected are being implemented by both the
Viet Nam Women’s Union and NCFAW. Measures include a media campaign and training of
women candidates. 350 However, despite these initiatives, the Combined Fifth and Sixth
Periodic Report identified some constraints on increasing the number of women in elected
bodies, such as: (a) limited awareness of the society on the importance of female participation;
(b) absence of mechanisms and favorable conditions for women to stand for elections;
and (c) women lack self-confidence and family support. 351 Distrust in the abilities of women and
stereotyped thinking about women also hinders their advancement. 352 Another factor in greater
female representation may be that the 30 percent goal is seen as a minimum quota for female
candidates rather than a quota for female deputies. In negotiation on the number of female
candidates during the consultative conferences, negotiations must strive to go beyond 30 percent
female candidates to increase women’s likelihood of being elected.
Bearing in mind, the obligations in Articles 7 and 8 of CEDAW, it is obvious that simply
providing a proportion does not ensure election of women; hence, measures to support the
proportion set by law must be in place.
Recommendation: It is recommended that the Law on Election to National
Assembly and its amending legal documents, Law on Election to People’s Councils and
Law on Gender Equality provide that the proportion of female deputies in the National
Assembly and People’s Councils should be not less than 30 percent. It must be clearly
stipulated in the laws that this is the minimum number for elected deputies, not candidates.
Appropriate adjustments must be made to increase the number of female candidates
to more than 30 percent so as to achieve the 30 percent target for female
deputies. National strategies, plans and targets must also aim for a proportion that
goes progressively higher than 30 percent female candidates.
178
In support of the 30 percent proportion of female deputies, these election laws
must clearly stipulate the supportive measures for women to increase their chances as
a group in reaching the 30 percent target for the different bodies. These measures
should be in place simultaneously and they should include: (a) increasing the number
of female candidates to more than 30 percent of the total number of candidates; (b) providing
skills building and empowerment trainings for female candidates; (c) raising
awareness of the electorate to recognize the skills of female candidates and not to discriminate
on account of gender through, for example, a series of voter education workshops/consultations,
mass campaign on electing female deputies, etc.; (d) setting up
funds or resources (for example, campaign spaces) to be utilized by female candidates.
A critical observation relating to the 11th National Assembly was that women were well
represented in committees that focus on ‘soft’ issues such as social affairs, culture, education,
youth and ethnic minorities, and poorly represented in ‘hard’ issues such as budget and economics,
defense or security. 353
350
Wells, op. cit., p. 54
351
Combined Fifth and Sixth Periodic Report, p. 23
352
GSO Statistics, p. 69
353
World Bank Assessment, p. 32
Review of key legal documents and compliance with CEDAW