English - CEDAW Southeast Asia

A Gendered and Rights-Based Review of Vietnamese Legal Documents through the Lens of CEDAW
V.10.3 RELEVANT LEGAL PROVISIONS
Indicator 94
Is there a guarantee for women’s equal participation in business
and enterprises
The Constitution provides that citizens enjoy freedom of enterprise as determined by law. 621
Article 21 of the Constitution further states: “The private individual, small owner and private
capitalist economic sectors may opt for organizational forms of production and business, may
set up enterprises not restricted in scope of operation in branches and trades beneficial to the
national economy and the people’s life. The family household economy is encouraged to
develop.”
Article 50 of the Civil Code states that individuals have the right to freedom of business.
They have the rights to choose the forms, areas and lines of business, to establish
enterprises, and to enter freely into contracts and hire labour, and other rights in accordance
with the provisions of law. 622 There are several laws are on business and enterprises, such as
the Enterprise Law (No. 60/2005/QH11 of December 25, 2001) (Enterprise Law) and
Investment Law (No. 59/2005/QH11 of December 25, 2001) (Investment Law). However, they
do not have any gender-specific provisions. The Decree No. 90/2001/ND-CP of November 23,
2001 on Support for the Development of Small-and Medium-Sized Enterprises (Decree on
SMEs) also does not have gender-specific provisions. However, as many women’s
businesses tend to be at the level of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), this law is
of importance. The Decree on SMEs urges the development of SMEs and, in turn, applies a
number of support policies such as: (a) setting up credit guarantee funds to provide a
guarantee for SMEs where they fail to acquire enough properties for mortgage; 623 (b) creating
conditions to raise access to information on markets, goods and prices; (c) creating conditions
to renovate on technologies, equipment and machinery, develop new products and modernize
management; and (d) providing financial support for consultancy and human resource
training. 624
The Programme on Human Resource Training Support For Small- And Medium-Sized
Enterprises in the 2004-2008 Period (Programme for Human Resource Training) – pursuant
to the Decision No. 143/2004/Qd-TTG Of August 10, 2004 Approving The Programme On
Human Resource Training Support For Small- And Medium-Sized Enterprises In The 2004-
2008 Period (Decision on SMEs 2004) - operationalizes particular aspects of the Decree on
SMEs on building capacities of SMEs as well as business support service providers: (a)
training and fostering human resources for SMEs, including raising capabilities on: (i) general
business management; (ii) personnel management and administration; (iii) marketing
administration; (iv) drawing up marketing plans, raising marketing skills and skills for
participation in fairs and exhibitions; (v) finance and accounting administration; (vi) technical
and technological management; and (b) fostering business support service providers
277
621
Constitution, Article 57
622
Civil Code, Article 50
623
See Decision No. 193/2001/QD-TTG of December 20, 2001 Issuing the Regulation on the Setting Up, Organization and
Operation of Credit Guarantee Funds for Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises; and Circular No. 93/2004/TT-BTC of
September 29, 2004 Guiding a Number of Contents of the Regulation on Setting Up, Organization and Operation of
Credit Guarantee Funds for Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises
624
See Decision on SMEs 2004
Economic and social life (Article 13 of CEDAW)