In an article titled “Women and girls are empowered to make their own decision” written on the occasion of the 114th anniversary of International Women’s Day (March 8), Jackson said that UNFPA in Vietnam ensures that their projects and programs work for everyone who needs them.

To achieve this, UNFPA must be people-centered and reflect people’s wishes and needs. Women’s leadership is critical to Vietnam’s social-economic growth, he insisted.

Pauline Tamesis, the UN Resident Coordinator in Vietnam, and Caroline Nyamayemombe, Representative of UN Women in Vietnam, wrote a joint article on accelerating investment in women which says Vietnam has made strides in women’s empowerment.

According to them, legislation, including the Gender Equality Law and a 35% candidate quota for women in the National Assembly, enabled the legal and policy environment to drive investments in women’s empowerment.

Efforts are showing results. Vietnam climbed 11 places on the latest World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index, rising from 83rd to 72nd of 146 countries. Vietnam’s female workforce participation rate of more than 70% is one of the highest in the world, and with a 30.3% representation in parliament, Vietnamese women exceed the global average of 25.5%.