Solutions to ensure employment for female workers in the digital economy

As the economy transforms digitally, female workers in the manufacturing industry will face the risk of losing their jobs due to the application of automation and robotization in many tasks. Illustrative photo

Presenting a paper at the National Workshop on "Digital Transformation in the Activities of the Vietnam Women's Union", Ms. Vu Thu Hong - Officer of the Women, Peace and Security Program, United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) in Vietnam - pointed out the current status of labor qualifications and challenges in job security for Vietnamese women in the context of digital transformation, thereby providing recommended solutions for the Vietnam Women's Union to support its members and women.

Status of qualifications and challenges for female workers in Vietnam

According to Ms. Vu Thu Hong, the female labor force in Vietnam today, although large in number, has a low rate of training, so it does not really meet the requirements of the period of accelerating industrialization, modernization and deep international integration, especially in the current growing digital economy. The "2020 Labor and Employment Survey Report" of the General Statistics Office showed that the number of female workers without professional qualifications accounts for 49.4%, concentrated in rural female workers, middle-aged women, ethnic minority women; the rate of female workers doing household chores accounts for 94.7% of the total hired workers.

Women, especially young women, face difficulties in entering the high-quality workforce or in occupations with high opportunities for management and leadership positions due to discrimination and gender stereotypes. In addition, occupational segregation and limited advancement exist as well as persistent gender gaps in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) at the secondary and tertiary levels.

A recent study on gender and learning outcomes in Vietnam found that although girls on average do better in mathematics, they believe that they are worse than boys. International experience also shows that children themselves believe that arts and languages constitute “feminine” activities and that science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects are “masculine”. Since there is no statistical data on STEM learning outcomes in Vietnam, we cannot have precise information about whether boys or girls do better in STEAM subjects. But given these stereotypes, not many girls are currently encouraged to develop in this area.

Ms. Vu Thu Hong - Officer of the Women, Peace and Security Program, United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) in Vietnam - presented a paper at the Workshop.

This is further demonstrated by the figures in the ILO report (ASEAN in transition) showing that Vietnamese men often choose engineering (20.8%), information, communication and technology (18.6%). However, less than 10% of Vietnamese women surveyed pursue these two fields of study.

Along with that reality, female workers also face many challenges when the digital economy completely becomes the main economy of a modern society. Manufacturing industries such as garments, electronics, and assembly often have a high rate of female labor participation. When applying automation and robotization, the decline in demand for direct labor will put a series of women at risk of losing their jobs. Or the retail and customer service industries can replace jobs such as cashiers, sales consultants, etc. with automated or online solutions, affecting the job retention of women working in these industries, sometimes excluding ordinary female workers, only maintaining management staff.

In sectors such as information and communication technology, healthcare, education, administrative and management work, digital technology can create many new opportunities but can also require high skills and techniques. Women may face job loss or not be able to get jobs if they do not have the technical qualifications. The difficulty of entering higher positions in these sectors is also a challenge that forces women to make much more efforts to avoid being left behind and eliminated, or discriminated against in the workplace.

Some recommendations for the Vietnam Women's Union

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh - Chairman of the National Committee on Digital Transformation - chaired the 8th meeting of the National Committee on Digital Transformation on April 24, 2024, requesting Ministers and Chairmen of People's Committees at all levels to be more determined, make greater efforts, and focus on directing the implementation of national digital transformation and digital economic development; with the spirit of "5 pushes". On March 11, 2024, Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan emphasized at the 68th meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68-2024) under the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in New York, USA, on enhancing the empowerment of women and girls in science, technology and digital transformation.

With all the potentials and advantages of the country and the attention and close direction of the Party, State and Government, the Vietnam Women's Union can consider implementing a number of activities to increase the participation of women and girls in the digital transformation process and the digital economy, specifically:

Member of the Party Central Committee, President of the Vietnam Women's Union Ha Thi Nga (middle) talks with contestants participating in the contest "Application of IT in organizing Union activities"

- The Vietnam Women's Union carries out propaganda and campaigns to completely eliminate discrimination against girls in the educational environment, against women in labor and employment, as well as eliminate gender-based violence in cyberspace. At the same time, it is necessary to carry out communication to raise awareness, change prejudices about the choice of majors and career orientation of girls and young women, ensure the "digital rights" of women and children; at the same time, improve the understanding of families and schools about future careers compared to traditional careers that have many gender characteristics or reinforce gender-based discrimination.

- Through the Association, schools can combine to organize talks and career counseling in the fields of STEM, microchips, semiconductors, AI... for female students to expand the need for vocational training and career orientation for female students at all levels.

- Women's Unions at all levels can also coordinate with relevant agencies to provide career counseling, provide job information to women and female students through a one-stop model, organize job fairs to connect employers and female workers...

- Conducting research and collecting data on the participation of women and youth in the digital economy is important to identify advantages, risks, challenges, risks and opportunities. From there, the Association can develop specific activities, as well as recommend policy proposals to have timely interventions to ensure the legitimate rights and interests of women.

- Women's Unions at all levels need to continue to carry out policy advocacy as well as participate in gender mainstreaming and enhance the effectiveness of the Law on Gender Equality, the Law on Employment, the Labor Law, etc. to promote gender equality as well as diversify the workforce. In the current "thirst" for human resources, this solution is also the basis for the Government to take advantage of all human resources for the digital transformation process and develop the digital economy, especially human resources with diversity in terms of gender, income, age, race, ethnicity, gender identity and sexual orientation.

- The Association needs to continue to have programs to support women-owned technology businesses and strengthen domestic cooperation, public-private cooperation, cooperation with social organizations, non-governmental organizations, professional organizations, associations as well as international cooperation to build or support vocational training programs on engineering, science, technology, and digital for women-owned businesses in particular and female workers in general to improve labor quality and ensure stable employment for them.

- Summarizing and honoring female leaders in the digital economy, successful business models in using digital tools to develop business, marketing, e-commerce and financial management is also a form of spreading to encourage and motivate women on the journey to participate in digital transformation.

Through these activities, the Vietnam Women's Union can actively support narrowing the gender gap in the digital economy and enhancing the empowerment of women and female students, supporting the maximum exploitation of Vietnam's human resources to ensure sustainable economic and social development.

According to phunuvietnam.vn

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