news: Vietnamese Women's Congress starts

[AnHai Doan <anhai@cs.washington.edu>]

Vietnamese Women's Congress starts

(HCMC) the Eighth Congress of the Vietnamese Women's Association was
solemnly started yesterday at Ba Dinh Hall in Hanoi with 900 women
delegates from across the nation taking part. Participating in the
Congress were Mr. Do Muoi, General Secretary of the Communist Party of
Vietnam, Advisor Pham Van Dong, Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet, Chairman of
the National Assembly Nong Duc Manh, Vice President Nguyen Thi Binh and
many Government leaders. 

Some 25 foreign delegations including Women's International Democratic
Federation (WIDF) and Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
(WILPF) also participated in the congress.

After the opening speech of Ms. Truong My Hoa, member of the Central
Communist Party and chairwoman of the ten-million-member Vietnamese
Women's Association, the congress reviewed the women's movement and
operation of the Vietnamese Women's Association during the term of
1992-1997. The congress also focused on the future targets, tasks and
operation programs of the association for the term of 1997-2002.

Some facts about Vietnamese women

- Vietnamese women make up 51.2% of the population, or 37.9 million. -
Women workers account for 47% in the State economic sector, and 51.5% in
the non-State sector; In areas of education, health care, commerce, and
light industries, women workers account for between 60% and 70%. - Women
working as employers account for 21% among 37,000 economic
establishments nation-wide. - By the end of 1996, there were 237 women
professors, and 28 with doctorate degrees. - As for the national
leadership, women account for 18.5% of the National Assembly deputies,
10.58% of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam. - In
addition, high-ranking women posts also include 29 ministers or
equivalent posts, five secretaries of provincial communist party, and 20
provincial chairpersons or vice chairpersons. (Source: Nhan Dan daily)