“Girls Deserve to Shine”: gala concert series help boost gender equality in Vietnam

The Gala Concert “Girls Deserve to Shine” has been successfully conveying a message on gender equality in Vietnam, boosting the confidence and the honor of being girls.

UNFPA-held Opera Gala Concert at the Hanoi Opera House on Nov 26. Photos: UNFPA

Following the first-ever successful Symphony Concert themed “Girls Deserve to Shine” in 2020, the 2021 Opera Gala Concert is expected to bring about a strong message to every family to eliminate domestic violence against women and girls.  

The performances are organized in joint efforts by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST), the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra with the support of the Embassy of Italy and Norway in Hanoi.

This year’s performance took place at the Hanoi Opera House on November 26 and was broadcast live on the digital television channel VTC 3, on the UNFPA fan page, and on YouTube.

Under the direction of the well-known conductor – Mr. Honna Tetsuji, the Opera Gala Concert features 7 successful Vietnamese opera singers, namely Dao To Loan/Soprano; Bui Thi Trang/Soprano; Le Vanh Khuyen/Soprano; Huong Ly/Soprano; Tung Lam/Tenor; Truong Linh/Tenor and Nguyen Duc Huy/Bariton, for world’s popular works by Gioachino Rossini, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Gaetano Donizetti, Giacomo Puccini, and Giuseppe Verdi.

The event is aimed to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women. This is also UNFPA’s contribution to Vietnam’s National Action Month for Gender Equality.

Gender equality in Vietnam has improved over the past decades, however, domestic violence and gender-biased sex selection are still widespread in the country. In Vietnam, nearly two out of three women experienced one or more forms of violence in their lifetime. Domestic violence is hidden in Vietnamese society, as more than 90% of women never sought any services, and more than half never told anyone about it.

Notably, Vietnam has a lot more boys born than girls, which is the third-highest in Asia following China and India. As many couples prefer sons to daughters, gender-biased and prenatal sex selection is present, and 45,900 female births are missing every year in Vietnam.

Ms, Naomi Kitahara, UNFPA Representative for Vietnam stressed that the organization of this concert demonstrated UNFPA’s commitments to achieving Zero gender-based violence and harmful practices against women and girls. She said: “We really want to appeal to everyone to stop domestic violence against women and girls. And we also want to appeal to everyone to stop son preference and gender-biased sex selection. Let the power of music bring us all together. Let’s get united to stop those harmful practices.”

“With the pervasive strength of arts and uplifting of music, let’s work together for an equal society where women and girls deserve to shine,” it’s the goal that the UNFPA and stakeholders are expecting.

Tran Tuyet Anh, Director of MCST’s Family Department stressed the important contributions of the Opera Gala Concert. She hoped that through this concert, a movement of soft power can be created to bring about a strong message on eliminating domestic violence against women and girls. 

Symphony Concert in 2020 themed "Girls Deserve to Shine".