English - CEDAW Southeast Asia

CEDAW and the Law:
tutions. The SEDP enumerates - as one of its expected results in relation to Major Policies and
Measures to Achieve Goals and Targets of the SEDP 2006-2010 - the increase by 3-5 percent
of female staff in all agencies and sectors at all levels. This is also reiterated in the Poverty
Reduction and Social Development Targets of Viet Nam by 2010.
The Ordinance on Public Employees (No. 01/1998/PL-UBTVQH10 of February 26,
1998) (Ordinance on Public Employees) provides guidance relating to the regime of public
employees, including their duties and interests, election, recruitment, job conditions, retirement
and management. This was later amended by Ordinance Amending and Supplementing
a Number of Articles of the Ordinance on Officials and Public Employees (No. 11/2003/PL-
UBTVQH11 of April 29, 2003). The Ordinance on Public Employees is couched in gender-neutral
language and contains no specific guarantees on gender equality or non-discrimination on
the basis of gender. There is one provision in it referring in particular to female workers; that
is, the applicability of selected provisions of Chapter X of the Labour Code to female civil servants.
354 Earlier, in relation to recruitment of public employees, a male applicant must be aged
18-40 years while a female applicant must be aged 18-35 years. 355 This was amended in 2000
stating that the age range for both male and female appointments is 18-40 years, thus eliminating
the age differential. 356
In 2003, the Regulation on Appointment, Reappointment, Shift, Resignation and
Removal from Office of Leading Officials and Public Employees (Regulation on Leading
Officials and Public Employees) - promulgated by the Decision No. 27/2003/QD-TTG of
February 19, 2003 Promulgating the regulation on Appointment, Reappointment, Shift,
Resignation and Removal from Office of Leading Officials and Public Employees (Decision on
Leading Officials and Public Employees) - stated that for ‘first-time appointments’, 357 official
and public employees must not be over age 55 years for men or age 50 years for women,
except for the posts of deputy-head and head of sections in urban and rural districts or equivalent
posts. 358 The age differential is clearly to ensure consistency with the mandatory retirement
age for men and women set by Article 60 of the Labour Code and Article 55 of the Law
on Social Insurance (No. 71/2006/QH11 of June 29, 2006) (Law on Social Insurance) respectively.
(See Part V.8.3, Indicator 77.) However, Article 11(4) of the later Law on Gender Equality
clearly stipulates: “Man and woman are equal in term of professional qualifications and age
when they are promoted or appointed to the same posts of management and leadership in
agencies and organizations.”
180
Despite these legal documents, within the public administration’s central executive level,
there are very few women in leadership positions. In 2005, only 12 percent of Ministers (or its
354
Ordinance on Public Employees, Article 9(5)
355
Decree No. 95/1998/ND-CP of 17 November 17, 1998 on the Recruitment, Employment and Management of Public
Servants, Article 6(2)
356
Decree No. 56/2000/ND-CP of 12 October 12, 2000 Amending Clause 2, Article 6 of the Government’s Decree No.
95/1998/ND-CP of 17 November 17, 1998 on Recruitment, Employment and Management of Public Servants, Article 1
357
Decision on Leading Officials and Public Employees, Article 2(1) defines appointment as that the “heads of competent
agencies issues decisions to appoint officials and public employees to leading posts for definite terms in the agencies
or units”.
358
Regulation on Leading Officials and Public Employees, Article 3. For the posts of deputy-head and head of sections in
urban and rural districts or equivalent posts, the age for first-time appointment must not exceed age 45 years for both
men and women.
Review of key legal documents and compliance with CEDAW