Six speakers during a talk on public comments on women held by the Center for Studies and Applied Sciences in Gender, Family, Women and Adolescents (CSAGA) on January 19^th, suggested that different efforts should be made to prevent bad public comments which may lead to hurt for women.

Six speakers during a talk on public comments on women in Hanoi. (Photo: CSAGA)

Titled “Public comments on women - Limit and morality”, the talk aimed to collect ideas on how to encourage people to have more friendly and gender-sensitive public comments. “During the time of Internet and social networks, harmless-looking jokes and comments can hurt others, cause regrettable consequences and receive serious criticism,” said Nguyen Van Anh, CSAGA Director.

“The talk helps to minimize and eliminate comments considering women as tools of sex, especially those from people having influence on communities,” she added.

Speakers put forth different impolite situations on women, with focus on their bodies and appearance. Dang Ngoc Quang, a social researcher from the Rural Development Services Centre (RDSC), said that bad comments on women can be seen in the images in which they were treated as a commodity or an object without regard to their personality or dignity.

“They can be attacked by bad words, assessments and behaviours on newspapers, magazines, television, game shows, movies, advertisements and social networks,” he said, adding that this could be considered partly sexual harassment.

“Once being harassed, women often seek ways to survive themselves from the bad comments using their strong will and encouragement, without following legal proceedings which usually take a lot of time,” Quang added. “Therefore, there should be an association raising objections over bad public comments on women and protecting the victims”.

Sharing with Quang, other speakers suggested the establishment of an agency legalised in receiving victims’ complaints, and executing punishment of bad comments and behaviours on women.

Meanwhile, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Hoang Anh, a lecturer from the Hanoi Foreign Trade University, stressed the role of press agencies in publishing, supervising and struggling against wrong comments on women. Accordingly, there should not be bad public comments on women, especially on their bodies and appearance without seeing their real value.

She also highlighted regular and continuous education on adequate public comments on women in accordance with respecting human rights.

CSAGA, a Vietnamese non-governmental organisation, works to ensure women’s and children’s rights. The 17-year-old agency will continue to organise gender-sensitive events, including intervention over violence to women and prevention of sexual harassment of women at offices, according to CSAGA Director./.

VNF/CPV