English - CEDAW Southeast Asia

CEDAW and the Law:
personnel, financial and technical management and administration. Particular attention should
be paid to providing support to ethnic minority women and those women who live in remote
and mountainous regions.
Recommendations: It is suggested that clear provisions on non-discrimination
on account of gender in the field of business be stipulated in general laws on business,
investment and enterprise; for example, the Enterprise Law, Investment Law, Decree on
SMEs and its supporting documents,, and Law on Cooperatives. Provisions defining
and prohibiting sexual harassment in the field of business must be drafted, including
those committed by clients as well as officials who demand sexual favors to perform
their legitimate tasks, including those relating to registration of business enterprises,
taxation, inspections, etc.. Legal provisions should also be provided to encourage the
setting up of day-care centres and crèches. Clear responsibility in legal documents
must be stipulated for ensuring increased support for female entrepreneurs to access
business information and skills in business, personnel, financial and technical
management and administration, especially ethnic minority women and those women
who live in remote and mountainous regions. A target of 50 percent, with a minimum of
30 percent, should be progressively achieved in relation to ensuring women’s
participation in human resource capability development in line with the Decree on
SMEs and Programme on Human Resource Training.
Indicator 95
Do women have equal right to credit, loans and funds
Laws do not formally prohibit women from accessing credit, loans and funds. There are
several laws, strategies and plans that address women’s access to credit. The:
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National Strategy for the Advancement of Women under its objective of achieving
women’s equal rights in labour and employment has the following indicator: 80
percent of women-headed households will have access to loans from poverty
reduction programmes, and women will comprise 50 percent of people who have
access to credit by 2005;
Plan of Action for the Advancement of Women aims to ensure that 80 percent of
female-headed poor households get loans from the National Poverty Reduction
Programme, and 50 percent of total borrowers from the Viet Nam Bank for Social
Policies (VBSP) are women;
SEDP also identifies as a specific objective enabling women to access credit
sources;
CPGRS also provides as one of the measures under its objective to promote gender
equality, to strengthen women’s access to credit resources and capital from the
National Strategy for Poverty Reduction;
National Target Programme on Poverty Alleviation in the 2006-2010 Period (National
Target Programme on Poverty Alleviation 2006-2010) pursuant to Decision No.
20/2007/QD-TTG of February 5, 2007 of the Prime Minister Approving the National
Target Programme on Poverty Alleviation in the 2006-2010 Period provides priority
to poor households with female heads and has a major target by 2010 the provision
of preferential credit loans to 6 million poor households;
Review of key legal documents and compliance with CEDAW