The photo 'Net xua', taken by Le Thi Kim Lien, wins the third prize of the photo contest (Source: Australian Embassy in Vietnam)Hanoi (VNA) – The top 40 entries of aphotography contest on rural women and sustainable development in Vietnam arebeing displayed at an exhibition which opened at the Vietnamese Women’s Museumin Hanoi on October 10.
The contest, launched on this year’s InternationalWomen’s Day (March 8), was organised by UN Women Vietnam with support from the Australianand Canadian embassies to the country.
The collections show photographers’ views on femalecontributions to rural development in multiple areas, such as technology,agriculture, disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation, business,leadership, decision making, and gender equality.
Addressing the exhibition’s opening ceremony,Elisa Fernandez, head of the UN Women Vietnam office, said that even withoutwords, photos can provide an honest reflection of society and convey messageswith simplicity and ease. She believes that photography is a strong tool toimproving awareness of and promoting positive development in society.
She added that when looking at the photos, sheis reminded of the positive changes in the empowerment of rural women inVietnam.
Women constitute a critical workforce inagricultural production. According to the 2015 report of the General StatisticsOffice of Vietnam, in rural areas, 63.4 percent of working women are inagriculture, compared to 57.5 percent of working men. Rural women are significantlycontributing to the country's economic growth.
However, women and girls living in rural areas areamong those statistically speaking most likely to be poor; to lack access toproductive resources such as land, modern inputs, technology and financialservices, education, health care and other social protection services; and tobe hit hardest by climate change. On almost every measure of development, ruralwomen, due to gender inequality and discrimination, fare worse than rural men.
The exhibition will run through until November10.–VNA
VNA
