Honouring efforts on women's empowerment and gender equality

The top 5 enterprises receiving their awards

On December 1, senior leaders and businesses committed to sustainable development gathered for the announcing ceremony for Sustainable Businesses in Vietnam 2022 organised by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, and the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour.

The top 5 companies that have shown amazing commitment to promoting gender equality in the workplace in 2022 were Kraf Vina Paper Company (also in the top 5 in 2021), Jia Hsin, Hau Giang Pharmacy, SASCO, and PNJ.

They have made commendable efforts toward gender equality, as evidenced by actions and policies such as workplace sexual harassment prevention policies, labour agreements, and non-discrimination.

The five companies have all shown clear evidence of having specific WGE policies and practices in place, including those to boost diversity, prevent sexual harassment, assist with childcare, train female leaders, and more.

Dinh Thi Thu Hoai, executive director of the VBCWE and member of the review board for the Programme on Evaluation and Announcement of Sustainable Businesses in Vietnam 2022, said that gender equality indicators needed to be included in the assessment and direction guidelines for businesses because gender equality was an extremely important criterion creating the foundation for sustainable development.

"The next hurdle is raising employee and company owner knowledge of this topic. Even if a policy exists, it will be ineffective unless workers and business owners know that gender equality is vital and benefits all stakeholders. Businesses must implement synchronous solutions, integrate equality into corporate culture, and provide training to raise awareness for all staff and business leaders,” Hoai said.

The VBCWE is a professional organisation focused on workplace gender equality (WGE) in Vietnam and has been collaborating with the Vietnam Business Council for Sustainable Development as a member of the Advisory Board since 2020. It has provided consultation to adjust and integrate WGE criteria into the Corporate Sustainability Index (CSI) by adding indicators related to gender composition, board diversity, and women's empowerment policies and practices.

For the first time in 2021, the WGE sub-award under the CSI Programme was introduced, honouring companies that were pioneers in WGE across the country. The award is expected to help raise Vietnamese businesses' awareness of and attention to WGE and its importance to corporate sustainability.

This is aligned with VBCWE’s mission to help businesses create and spread the values of equality, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace while enacting changes in businesses’ perceptions and actions.

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