The Vietnamese Women's Union Founding day
Ha Noi, Oct. 19 (VNA) -- The Vietnamese Women's Union (VWU) held in Ha Noi today, Oct. 19, a meeting to mark its 70th founding anniversary (Oct. 20) and to receive the State's Independence Order, first class.
Prominent among participants were Nguyen Thi Binh, Vice State President; Nong Duc Manh, National Assembly Chairman; Pham The Duyet, member of the Standing Board of the Communist Party of Viet Nam Central Committee's Political Bureau; Pham Gia Khiem, Deputy Prime Minister; and other Party and State officials.
Delivering a speech to review the VWU's activities during the past 70 years, Ha Thi Khiet, VWU President and Chairwoman of the National Committee for Advancement of Vietnamese Women, stressed that the VWU always focussed all of its activities on encouraging women from all walks of life to participate in national liberation, construction and defence. The Union's activities were aimed to protect women's legitimate rights and interests and to ensure gender equality.
In the current national renovation process, the VWU has launched emulation movements among women, bringing in practical effectiveness to social life. They included the "women be active in study, production, child raising and education, and happy family formation", "women give mutual assistance to develop household economy and practice industriousness for national construction", and "women be good at working place and at home".
Almost all women participated in the national programme on hunger eradication and poverty alleviation through the" days of savings for poor women", "women's groups of credits and savings" or mutual assistance in various kinds.
More than 1 million needy women have todate been provided with non interest loans worth over VND 100 billion, 6 million others received VND 4,000 billion in loans for production through the help of women's organizations at the grossroots level.
Women accounted for 26.22 percent of national assembly deputies and more than 20 percent of provincial and district people's committee officials.
