“Let the power of music bring us all together towards inclusive, equitable, and sustainable development in Vietnam.”
| United Nations Resident Coordinator Pauline Tamesis speaks at the concert held in Hanoi on Dec 10. Photos: UNFPA |
United Nations Resident Coordinator Pauline Tamesis called for everyone’s attention and action against gender inequality in Vietnam in her opening remark at Young Talent Symphony Concert “Girls Deserve to Shine” held at the Vietnam Academy of Music in Hanoi on December 10.
“I want to appeal to everyone, especially the young Vietnamese to help spread the concert’s message and be the agent for change. Let’s say NO to domestic and gender-based violence against women and girls. Let’s say NO to son preference and gender-biased sex selection,” Pauline Tamesis said at the concert co-organized by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra (VNSO).
Following the two successful concerts in 2020 and 2021, this year’s concert features young female Soloists, aiming at raising public awareness and promoting the value of women and girls in society, particularly to address gender-biased sex selection and gender-based violence in Vietnam.
This is also UNFPA’s contribution to Vietnam’s National Action Month for Gender Equality and Prevention and Response to Gender Based Violence, as well as to the global 16-Day Campaign to end Violence against Women and Girls starting from November 26.
Under the direction of the well-known conductor Honna Tetsuji, the young talented Vietnamese musicians played famous works by the world’s well-known composers, namely George Frideric Handel, Carl Maria von Weber, David Popper, Frédéric Chopin, Serge Koussevitzky, and Felix Mendelssohn.
The concert was held to the fact that domestic violence and gender-biased sex selection as harmful practices against women and girls continue to remain in the country.
| Concert "Girls Deserve to Shine" held at the Vietnam Academy of Music. |
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Harmful practices
In Vietnam, nearly 2 out of 3 women experienced one or more forms of violence in their lifetime, according to the National Study on Violence against Women conducted by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs and GSO with support from UNFPA and Australia.
Violence against women and girls is hidden in Vietnamese society, as more than 90% of women never sought any services, and more than half never told anyone about it.
One of the harmful practices is “son preference” which is anything but a benign tradition, is a product of gender-biased systems which place higher social status on men and boys, and favor male over female children.
As many couples still prefer sons to daughters, Vietnam has many more boys born than girls, which is the third highest in Asia, and it is estimated that 45,900 female births are missing every year in Vietnam.
In addition, gender-biased sex selection as a harmful practice remains persistent in Vietnam, and it has been identified as the major cause of an imbalance in the Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) in the country. The skewed SRB in Vietnam towards more boys has rapidly increased and reached 111.5 boys per 100 girls in 2019 as indicated in the 2019 Population and Housing Census, against the biologically “normal” SRB of 105-106 boys per 100 girls.
Vietnam’s SRB is the third highest in Asia.
According to Pauline Tamesis, Gender equality in Vietnam has improved over the past decades, and the revised Law on Domestic Violence Prevention and Control was approved by the National Assembly in November to integrate the rights-based and survivor-based approach in Vietnam’s legal instruments. This reflects Vietnam’s strong commitment to addressing domestic violence and gender-biased sex selection as harmful practices against women and girls.
The situation of gender-based violence and gender-biased sex selection has to be changed immediately, and it is the key message of the concert.
| Young Soloists at the concert. |
Contributing to the National Strategy on Gender Equality, Hanoi has focused on this cause by promoting inter-sectoral collaboration in protecting women and girls. Accordingly, the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs held dozens of training courses providing knowledge on preventing and responding to gender-based violence for officials and volunteers at the grassroots level. The municipal Women’s Union has launched different programs and campaigns to empower women while better protecting children from violence and abuse. Notably, the local agencies have assessed best practices from other localities to provide recommended solutions and actions to support Hanoi authorities, decision-makers, and stakeholders in ensuring gender equality for an inclusive society. Hanoi’s efforts are in line with the country’s common drive to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 on “gender equality and empower all women and girls” in order to “eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres. |
