Picturing gender equality in Viet Nam through comics and cartoons
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“My cartoon portrays inequality in the working environment, where gender is never an official criteria but it secretly has influence over chances of recruitment and promotion”, said Ms. Nguyen Vu Xuan Lan, the first prize winner of the “Comic and Cartoon Contest: Gender Equality – Picture it!”, and a 25-year-old English teacher.
“The man in the middle is inspired by the image of God of Justice. He's the one with authority and is supposed to be impartial, but as you can see, he's cheating and showing his preference toward the male employee. I wanted to emphasize the attitude and action of the one keeping the scale. I think it's pretty sad for the country, that we are rejecting talented people and their potential just because of their gender”.
Xuan Lan’s cartoon is one of 40 being exhibited at the Vietnamese Women’s Museum from the contest organized by the Embassy of Belgium, the Belgian Development Agency and UN Women Viet Nam. The contest invited Vietnamese nationals aged 18 and above to picture how gender equality looks through cartoons and comics without words.
In total, 116 applications were received from across the country, each portraying the applicants’ understanding of gender equality and women’s empowerment. Many images also highlighted various gender equality challenges in Viet Nam including violence against women, persistence of son preferences as well as discrimination against women and girls in education, work, and various spheres of life.
To read the full story visit UN Women's regional website for Asia and the Pacific: http://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/news-and-events/stories/2016/03/picturing-gender-equality-in-viet-nam