Spreading awareness of gender equality among ethnic minorities

Officers and soldiers of Quang Chieu Border Guard Station propagate the law to the people.

The main reasons come from outdated awareness, customs, male chauvinism, and gender prejudice that have been deeply rooted in the ethnic minority community for a long time. Secondly, the lives of ethnic minorities are still difficult; opportunities to access information and community exchanges, especially for ethnic minority women, are limited. Many people still have a fearful and inferior mentality, do not dare to demand their rights, and always have the mindset of "resigning to their fate", accepting disadvantages... On the other hand, some local Party committees and authorities have not paid attention to implementing gender equality for ethnic minority women in the past...

Therefore, in order to gradually eliminate gender prejudice and move towards gender equality, especially among ethnic minorities, our Party and State have issued many related policies and laws such as: Gender Equality Law; Law on Prevention and Control of Domestic Violence; Law on Marriage and Family; National Action Program on Prevention and Control of Domestic Violence by 2020; National Action Plan to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development... In which, the most prominent is the result of Project 8 on "Implementing Gender Equality and Solving Urgent Issues for Women and Children" under the National Target Program on Socio -Economic Development of Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Areas...

To effectively implement Project 8, the Provincial Women's Union has deployed many solutions to promote gender equality in ethnic minority areas through practical models suitable for each locality such as establishing "Community Communication Team"; "Leader of Change" Club; "Trusted Address" and many livelihood models, cooperatives, cooperatives led by women...; coordinating to organize the Festival "Trusted Address, supporting the building of happy families; preventing and combating domestic violence" in the form of dramatization in August 2024.

Before the merger, Thanh Son commune (now Thanh Quan commune) was one of the localities that the Central Committee of the Vietnam Women's Union directed to build the "Trusted Address" model, because before building the model (in 2021), the commune had more than 20 families showing signs of violence. Members of the model are representatives of the commune People's Committee, Party cell secretary, women's association head, head of the front work committee, and prestigious people in the community. The model operates under the management of the Women's Union and the commune People's Committee according to regulations and rules.

After building the model, the members of the “trusted address” have stepped up propaganda work to raise awareness of domestic violence prevention and control; changed thinking and working methods, contributing to eliminating prejudices and gender stereotypes in families and communities; held monthly meetings for members to report on the situation in their areas of responsibility. In addition, the “trusted address” is also a place to protect women and vulnerable people from domestic violence. The “trusted address” is also a place to share, help and protect many cases of women and children who are abused and violated; provided advice and resolved conflicts and discord in marriage and family as well as issues related to social order in the locality...

In addition to the "Trusted Address" model in Thanh Quan commune, the Provincial Women's Union also built 3 pilot models, namely "Community Communication Team" in Gioi village, Van Am commune (now Nguyet An commune); "Trusted Community Address" in Trung Tien commune (now Trung Ha commune); "Leader of Change" Club in Lat village, Tam Chung commune, thereby helping people and women members change their thinking and working methods, encouraging and creating conditions for women and children to realize their aspirations and dreams; actively developing the economy, participating in community activities, especially cultural and sports activities...

To date, Project 8 models have been deployed and replicated in 96 localities and over 300 extremely disadvantaged villages in the province. The results of Phase I of the project have established and maintained nearly 320 "Community Communication Teams", 46 "Trusted Addresses", 64 "Leaders of Change" Clubs; supported 15 livelihood models, cooperatives, and cooperatives led by women; organized 130 policy dialogues; trained and coached over 400 female ethnic minority cadres...

It can be seen that through the models of Project 8, timely help and support has been provided to victims of domestic violence; encouraging each person to change their awareness and behavior, contributing to eliminating domestic violence, thereby gradually eliminating gender prejudice and gender stereotypes, aiming to care for and support the material and spiritual life of ethnic minority women and children in the province... The models are now being replicated, contributing to enhancing the spread of Project 8 in the community.

Article and photos: Xuan Minh

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/lan-toa-nhan-thuc-ve-binh-dang-gioi-nbsp-trong-dong-bao-dan-toc-thieu-so-258742.htm