English - CEDAW Southeast Asia

CEDAW and the Law:
tries show that this is an occurrence in many employment settings, whether private or public.
Hence, appropriate legislation on this must be in place.
Recommendation: It is recommended that age differentials in terms of recruitment
and appointment must be prohibited. In keeping with the Law on Gender Equality,
the Decision on Leading Officials and Public Employees must be amended to ensure
that men and women have the same age for first-time appointments. In relation to this,
it is also urged that equal retirement age must be stipulated for men and women and
appropriate amendments in the Labour Code and Law on Social Security must be made.
All qualifications, including age, must be the same for both men and women.
It is also suggested that a clear proportion of women in leadership positions in
State agencies, political and socio-political organizations, of not lower than 30 percent,
be explicitly stipulated in law; that is, as a supplement to the Ordinance on Public
Employees and to other legislation on organization of State offices (for example, the
Law on People’s Procuracies, etc.). State agencies, political and socio-political organizations
must be mandated to draft a plan to enable progressive compliance with the 30
percent proportion within a specific time frame with monitoring and enforcement mechanisms
and resources to ensure compliance, including sanctions for failure to abide by
the plan for no justifiable reasons.
To ensure that gender equality is not set aside, a guarantee on non-discrimination
on the basis of gender must be stipulated in the Ordinance on Public Employees and
its supporting documents.
An explicit prohibition of sexual harassment must also be clearly provided in a
legal document for public employees. See Part V.8.3, Indicators 81-82 for recommended
definition, coverage and other details. Provisions relating to access to working conditions,
maternity and social insurance, which are recommended in Part V.8.3,
Indicators 71-79, are also suggested to cover public employees.
It is also recommended that gender equality courses and gender sensitivity be
included as a mandatory subject in the contents of training and fostering programs.
182
The Ordinance on Judges and Jurors of the Peoples Committee (No. 02/2002/PL-
UBTVQH11 of October 4, 2002) (Ordinance on Judges and Jurors) provides that all
Vietnamese citizens regardless of sex have the right to participate in State management.
However, in relation to the judiciary, female participation has been decreasing. 366 In 2001, the
percentage of women in the SPC, provincial courts and district courts was 22 percent, 27 percent
and 35 percent respectively, but, in 2003, the percentage declined significantly to 16 percent,
24 percent and 22 percent respectively. 367
Recommendation: It is also recommended that temporary special measures or
measures to promote equality be put in place relating to increasing the number of
female judges. The Ordinance on Judges and Jurors must be in revised or supplement-
366
World Bank Assessment, p. 34
367
Ibid.
Review of key legal documents and compliance with CEDAW