Recently, the Australia Awards Women in Leadership Journey IV (WIL Journey IV) participants successfully organised an event about gender equality.
The goal of this event was to increase and improve awareness of gender-based violence (GBV) and introduce how GBV can be a significant barrier to women’s leadership.
Our two guest speakers were Ms. Thuy Deo, Lecturer, Tay Bac University and alumna, WIL Journey I, and Ms. Phuong Thuy, Manager, Peace House Shelters, Centre for Women and Development (CWD), Vietnam’s Women Union (VWU).
Guest speakers Đèo Thị Thủy (left) and Lê Thị Phương Thúy (right)
This event brought together our WIL Journey IV participants who gathered together in Hanoi Vietnam as well as team members from the Gender Consortium, Flinders University in Australia, who joined online via Zoom from Australia and Ho Chi Minh City.
As part of the event, there was a screening of a feature length documentary about gender-based violence (GBV) on university campuses in Vietnam. The documentary was filmed by VTV4, and included a focus on Thuy Deo’s, application project about her efforts to respond to GBV on campus. Thuy Deo developed and implemented this project in 2018 for the 1st Women in Leadership Journey. A Q&A session following the screening enabled WIL Journey IV participants to ask questions of the guest speakers to further their understanding of gender-based violence.
Even though it is often hidden, GBV poses a significant obstacle to women’s leadership. This event gave WIL Journey IV participants the chance to deepen their knowledge and share lessons learned, including about why the Peace House Shelters for domestic violence and trafficking victims are so critical for ensuring women and their children’s safety. What’s more, they could closely connect with one of our alumna from the 1st Women in Leadership Journey, and the impressive results from her application project.
