Hội Liên hiệp Phụ nữ Việt Nam

Basic Information on Vietnam Women’s Union Posted : April 20, 2005

Vietnam Women’s Union (VWU) was found in 1930. The his­tory of VWU is clo­sely atta­ched to the coun­try’s his­tory for natio­nal inde­pen­dence and deve­lop­ment. VWU has a net­work that ope­ra­tes throu­ghout Vietnam at four admi­nis­tra­tive levels of cen­tral, pro­vin­cial, dis­trict and com­mune ones with a total mem­ber­ship of above 13 mil­lion women. Since its foun­da­tion, VWU has trans­for­med and deve­lop­men­tal orga­ni­za­tion, which is man­da­ted to pro­tect women’s legi­ti­mate rights and strive for gender equa­lity.

Development his­tory of the VWU

Founded in October 20, 1930. VWU has expe­rien­ced and made impor­tant contri­bu­tions to the natio­nal libe­ra­li­za­tion and cons­truc­tion.

During the period of 1930-45, VWU was known as dif­fe­rent names, such as the Liberalization Women’s Union (1931-45), the Anti-impe­ria­lism Women’s Union (1936-38), the Democratic Women’s Union (1939-40), and then the Women League for National Salvation (WLNS). All these pre­de­ces­sor orga­ni­za­tions of the Union had under­ta­ken the common task of mobi­li­zing women nation­wide to take part in the anti-feu­da­lism and anti-impe­ria­lism move­ments led by the Communist Party to strug­gle for the power of the people.

In May 1950, the First National Women’s Congress was held and it deci­ded to turn the WLNS into the VWU and made it the unique poli­ti­cal orga­ni­za­tion of women in Vietnam. At that time, VWU’s mem­ber­ship already moun­ted to 3 mil­lion of those 10, out of 403, were mem­bers of the National Assembly’s First Tenure of the then Democratic Republic of Vietnam. VWU had encou­ra­ged its mem­bers across the coun­try acti­vely par­ti­ci­pate in the pro­cess of the natio­nal buil­ding anti-French colo­nial resis­tance war, defen­ding suc­cess­fully the young state.

During the period of 1955-1975, when the whole coun­try was tasked to libe­rate the South from the American and its agents, pro­tect socia­lism in the North, and ulti­ma­tely unify the coun­try. VWU had ini­tia­ted many cam­pai­gns of emu­la­tion all over the coun­try such as « the cam­paign of 5 good », and « the cam­paign of 3 abi­li­ties », etc. These moves, had been morally encou­ra­ged women in every part of the coun­try in their labor, combat, study and family every day life.

From 1976 to 1985, it was the period when the resis­tance war against the American aggres­sors ended, the coun­try became uni­fied and star­ted the new task of reco­ve­ring over the after­math of war and mobi­li­zing its resour­ces for natio­nal eco­no­mic deve­lop­ment. In tune with the natio­nal efforts VWU laun­ched suc­cess­fully a cam­paign titled « New women in the natio­nal cons­truc­tion and defense ».

Vietnam Women’s Union has contri­bu­ted its great efforts to the achi­vev­ment of National Renovation since 1986 in the areas of socio-eco­no­mic deve­lop­ment.

The cur­rent natio­nal- wide move­ments are « Mutual assis­tance among women in hou­se­hold eco­no­mic deve­lop­ment, thrift for natio­nal cons­truc­tion » and « women acti­vely study, crea­ti­vely work and nur­ture happy fami­lies ».

In each state of Vietnamese his­tory, VWU has always ful­filled its duties and tasks, thus for the sake of natio­nal inte­rest. In this pro­cess, VWU gra­dually streng­the­ned its orga­ni­za­tio­nal struc­ture, acti­vi­ties contents and methods as well as applied new and effec­tive mea­su­res to attract more mem­ber­ship. At the same time, VWU has also broa­de­ned its exter­nal rela­tion for better mutual unders­tan­ding and co-ope­ra­tion for equa­lity deve­lop­ment and peace.

These efforts and contri­bu­tion of the VWU have been highly appre­cia­ted by lea­ders of the State and the Party. The Late President Ho Chi Minh usually refer­red to Vietnamese women with love and affec­tion as « The beau­ti­ful coun­try of Vietnam has been built and woven by the women, both young and old, with their heart­felt efforts to become more won­der­ful ». Furthermore, on the occa­sion of its 65th anni­ver­sary of foun­da­tion, VWU was also awar­ded a cur­tain on which reads « Vietnamese women are fai­th­ful, capa­ble, talent and heroic » by the former Secretary General Do Muoi who was on behalf of the Party and the State. At The 10th­Congress in Hanoi, on October 2007, Party General Nong Duc Manh pre­sent a banner writ­ten : “Vietnamese women, unity, crea­ti­ve­ness, equa­lity and deve­lop­ment and contri­bu­ting to natio­nal reno­va­tion in all fields”.

Many women have devo­ted great contri­bu­tions to the deve­lop­ment of the Union, in par­ti­cu­lar, and the cause of natio­nal libe­ra­li­za­tion, cons­truc­tion and defense, in gene­ral to name a few Mrs. Hoang Thi Ai, Mrs. Le Thi Xuyen, Mrs. Hoang Thi Ai, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thap, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Dinh, Mrs. Truong My Hoa, Mrs. Ha Thi Khiet.

Organizational Structure of the VWU

At pre­sent, the VWU has a mem­ber­ship of above 13 mil­lion mem­bers belon­ging to 10,472 local women’s union in com­mu­nes and towns throu­ghout the coun­try. The orga­ni­za­tio­nal system of VWUis divi­ded into 4 levels, com­pri­sing the Central level, the Provincial and Municipal level (63 units), the District level (642 units), and the Commune level (10,472 units).

Medal for the Cause of Women Liberalization

Medal « For the Cause of Women’s Emancipation/For the Development of Women in Vietnam » is the noblest award of the VWU to be confer­red to those Vietnamese and forei­gners who have made great contri­bu­tions the advan­ce­ment of women in Vietnam. There has been 94,021 people so far awar­ded this medal during the last decade.

Source : http://hoilhpn.org.vn/news­de­tail.as...