(VOVWORLD) - A book festival themed “Soaring” has been launched as part of activities to celebrate International Women’s Day, March 8 and in response to the UN-initiated global theme “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality”. The first ever book festival on gender equality is organized by the United Nations Agency on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) until Saturday at the Vietnam Women’s Museum in Hanoi.
 The Book Festival is being held at the Vietnam Women's Museum. (photo: toquoc.vn) |
The highlight of the festival is the interactive display “Weird or magical?” about discovering oneself and the surrounding world.
The festival features a seminar on gender equality and books for young people in the digital era and a seminar on gender, reproductive health, sex, and gender equality in family for parents, teachers, and others who are interested.
Le Thi Lan Phuong of the program on Ending Violence against Women of the UN Women said: “The book festival targets not only women and children but all people of all genders. Books on gender equality categorized by topics and ages will help people be better aware of changes of gender roles. This will encourage people to show respect for themselves and others and not discriminate against anyone.”
 The Read and Rise BookFest for Gender Equality 2023 at the Vietnam Women's Museum (photo: toquoc.vn) |
Other events have also attracted visitors such as "Books and We" for children organized by Room to Read Vietnam, WildAct, and the exchange of used books at the "Let’s Open Your Books". On the occasion, the organizing board donated books to children orphaned due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nguyen Thi Ngoc Minh, lecturer at Hanoi National University of Education, founder of the "Let’s You’re your Books" project, said: “There are a lot of books on gender equality for men, which help relocate the role of women and men, inspire a sense of respect and equality, and acknowledge gender diversity. An equal world is a world where everyone has a sense of their rights and everyone respects each other.”
At the festival, UN Women Vietnam launched the Vietnamese version of the toolkit to prevent violence against women according to UN Women's "Respect for women" standards globally.