The Necessity of Ensuring the Rights of Female Workers in Labor Law

According to Articles 23 and 24 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, human rights in labor law include: the right to work, the right to freely choose a job suitable to each individual's capacity and conditions, the right to health care at work, the right to enjoy fair and favorable working conditions for work, the right to protection against unemployment, the right to equal pay, the right to rest, etc.

Women's right to work is an integral part of equality between men and women in all areas of social life. Women's right to work in a developed socialist society is the right to equality with men in receiving a job that is guaranteed according to their ability and qualifications, the right to choose a career according to their aspirations and the profession they are trained in and is not harmful to women's bodies.

Workers, whether male or female, are protected by the law in each country from the perspective of civil rights and are recognized and guaranteed by international law. The United Nations Human Rights Committee has divided human rights in the field of labor into civil rights and from the perspective of labor law, "Workers' rights must be guaranteed as human rights" [23, p.27].

To protect the rights of female workers, many international documents and conventions have been issued. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 also recognized basic rights, respect for freedom and equality between men and women.

The 1996 United Nations International Convention on Political, Social and Cultural Rights stipulates that men and women have equal rights in all economic, cultural, political and social activities; This Convention has special priority for mothers during the time before and after giving birth because this is the time when mothers need to rest with pay and other welfare regimes. The most typical example of ensuring women's labor rights is the CEDAW Convention - the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. The basic content of the CEDAW Convention is to mention the protection of the rights of female workers in many different areas of life in order to eliminate discrimination between men and women in order to build an action program to promote women's equal rights...

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Obviously, on a global scale, the rights of female workers are expressed in many areas, however, in labor law, the rights of female workers are the rights recognized by law in the relationship with the employer. The reason why it can be affirmed like that is because the labor relationship is formed on the basis of the participation of two subjects, the employee and the employer, without one of the two, the labor relationship cannot be formed. Therefore, in general, the protection of female workers' rights in labor law is also protection in the relationship with the employer because female workers in particular are often in a weaker position than the employer, they are very dependent on the employer. The employer is in a higher position, they have the right to manage and operate the employee [10]. On the other hand, female workers have specific psychological factors, so they are also in a weaker position, so they also need to be protected. Protecting the rights of female workers in labor law often focuses on issues such as the right to protection of employment, income, life, the right to protection of life, health, honor, dignity, etc.

1.2.2. Ensuring the rights of female workers

Ensuring the rights of female workers is the labor law recognizing the rights of female workers in labor relations and measures to ensure the implementation of female workers' rights. Accordingly, employers must have the obligation to implement.

1.2.2.1. The need to ensure the rights of female workers in labor law

With their great role in society, female workers have made important contributions to economic and social development as well as contributing to enriching human life. Female workers always demonstrate their indispensable role in all areas of social life, especially in the field of material activities. Female workers are a direct force in producing wealth to support people. Not only reproducing material wealth, female workers also reproduce themselves to maintain and develop society. However, in addition to performing labor obligations like men, female workers also have to take on the role of motherhood, so they have their own characteristics in terms of health and psychology. Therefore, protecting the rights of female workers is extremely necessary, this comes from the following reasons:

In terms of physical strength, compared to male workers, female workers often face many obstacles in health, as well as flexibility due to the influence of gender, which has invisibly limited the right to participate in labor on an equal basis with male workers. In return, compared to male workers, female workers are more skillful, durable, and persistent in their work, so heavy lifting jobs are often undertaken by male workers, while jobs requiring meticulousness and dexterity are undertaken by female workers, it seems that nature has already made a distinction since the birth of women and men. Although today, equality between the two sexes has been strongly promoted and cared for, in the minds of employers as well as the majority of people, men are more agile and have the ability to approach work faster than women.

In terms of psychology, in contrast to some female workers who have adopted new ideas, in line with the modern development of the economy and society, there is still a group of female workers who are influenced by traditional concepts, carrying a heavy mentality of male superiority and female superiority. Women depend on men because "at home, follow the father, when married, follow the husband, when the husband dies, follow the son" , so women rarely participate in social relationships, rarely study, and rarely have their own voice. In reality, this ideology has been almost eliminated, the position of female workers has been raised and their role has been recognized by society, however, women have not been completely liberated, in a few regions, it still exists not only in the family but also in the thinking of female workers, in rural areas, many women are still unemployed or have to do heavy, excessive work. In some private enterprises, state agencies do not want to accept female workers; on job postings on social networks, many enterprises even have a note: Only recruiting male workers, explaining this issue, enterprises make excuses that due to job requirements, they do not recruit female workers, or the number of company employees is enough for female workers so they do not recruit. However, the reality shows that female workers are completely capable of doing these jobs, sometimes even better than men.

If female workers in urban areas have the opportunity to be exposed to a dynamic working environment, a developed economy, and have a higher level of education, they are often self-employed.

more confident, dynamic and courageous. On the contrary, in rural areas where the economy is slow to develop, female workers still feel inferior due to lack of knowledge and information.

On the other hand, in life, most women often have the mentality that family is everything, the burden of family weighs heavily on their shoulders, right from their thinking, a part of female workers still do not realize their role as well as their own rights and have not liberated themselves. Therefore, the requirement is to renew their thinking, especially their own education level, it is necessary to educate the law, promote propaganda work on gender equality so that female workers from rural to urban areas have progressive thinking, correctly recognize their position, fight for liberation and affirm their own capacity.

From the above reasons, it can be seen that eliminating the ideology of “male superiority and female inferiority” and gender inequality is not only a matter of knowledge and understanding, but more importantly, it is the goodwill and responsibility of both men and women in society. Doing so not only benefits women, liberates women from social prejudices, backward customs and practices, feudal ideologies and customs towards women, and factors that hinder and limit the role of women, but also promotes social progress.

Because of the above characteristics of female workers, the position of female workers in labor relations, in establishing labor relations compared to men, the large difference in physical strength as well as psychology causes difficulties for female workers, moreover, due to their weaker health than male workers, during the labor process, female workers are more likely to get sick, contract occupational diseases, especially in toxic and dangerous working environments. This factor also limits the choice of jobs in toxic industries, high-income industries, and limits the recruitment opportunities of this group. In addition, the instability of female workers' jobs is also higher than that of male workers because due to their motherhood, female workers have to take maternity leave, or take care of their children when they are sick, ill, etc. This interrupts the production process of enterprises, so employers often have a mentality of being afraid to use female workers. Therefore, the problem of finding jobs for female workers has become even more difficult, the rights of female workers in the process of participating in labor relations are also easily violated by employers because the awareness and understanding of female workers are limited, many times the regime does so but in reality, employers often take advantage of it.

exploiting loopholes in the law to circumvent the law, not implementing or not fully implementing legal regulations, so female workers are in an even weaker position compared to employers.

Regarding the labor market: Female workers are not only a large labor force in the labor force and society, but also participate in building and reforming society. Their working ability and creativity are not inferior to men. Female workers, along with male workers, create material wealth for society, promoting the economy to develop more and more. Nowadays, female workers are present in almost every profession, even in some fields that previously only prioritized men, such as mechanical engineering, space science, etc. With the new advances of human civilization, female workers are also willing to learn and quickly grasp the necessary knowledge to integrate into the general development of the world, contributing to the country's innovation. However, when participating in the labor market, female workers are still limited in some fields due to time constraints. They mainly participate in service production sectors, some jobs are traditional for female workers such as textile industry, footwear industry, service industries... Meanwhile, there are many other industries and fields that are seriously lacking skilled workers. Moreover, the concept of gender inequality has existed for thousands of years, so it is not easy to eliminate it. Even in enterprises, there is still a widespread idea that female workers are not allowed to become leaders, preventing them from developing their potential. It is the specific characteristics of society and the existing shortcomings that hinder workers in the process of self-liberation and the capacity to contribute to society. Therefore, it is necessary to protect the rights of female workers to ensure a reasonable division of female workers in industries, helping them to rise up and take control of their own lives.

In each field, the rights of female workers are regulated differently by law and especially in each country, the expression of these rights is also very different, but in general, the protection of female workers' rights focuses on the following contents:

1.2.2.2. Measures to ensure the rights of female workers

Protecting the rights of female workers means protecting their interests in relation to employers against the risk of exploitation, abuse, and unfair treatment.

equality. In fact, due to many different reasons, female workers are not fully protected, stemming from their own perceptions and the responsibilities of employers. Therefore, measures to protect them are needed through many forms. Measures to protect female workers are measures prescribed by labor laws to ensure the implementation of protection contents. Measures to protect female workers' rights are very rich and diverse, specifically:

* Compensation measures

Compensation for damages to female employees is considered mainly in the relationship between employers and female employees, including the following basic contents:

Compensation for damage to life and health of female workers. In this case, the responsibility belongs to the employer for female workers when work accidents or occupational diseases occur to them during the working process.

Compensation for damages caused by employers illegally terminating labor contracts: When entering into labor contracts, the parties must comply with the provisions of the labor law and the agreements in the contract, so the person who violates the contract will be responsible for compensation according to the provisions of the law or according to the agreement of the parties in the contract. Here, the employer must compensate the female employee for damages when terminating the labor contract because the female employee is on maternity leave, sick, etc.

* Administrative sanctions : This is a measure to protect female workers' rights through inspection, examination and supervision activities, so that violations of enterprises, units and organizations against female workers are detected and handled promptly. The main form of administrative sanctions applied is fines, which is both an administrative and economic measure.

* Dispute resolution

It can be seen that labor relations are mutually beneficial cooperation relations on the basis of respecting the rights and legitimate interests of the parties to achieve common interests. However, the goal of achieving maximum benefits is always the number one driving force, so it is difficult for the parties to agree on rights and obligations in the process of implementing labor relations.

Female workers often want to increase wages and reduce working hours, while employers aim to achieve the highest profits, so they increase working hours and reduce wages... It is these opposing interests that lead to labor disputes that are inevitable and resolving disputes is an urgent requirement. In theory, there are two types of labor disputes: individual labor disputes and collective labor disputes. However, the scope of this thesis mainly deals with individual labor disputes because this is the type of dispute that directly affects the rights of female workers.

Dispute resolution measures are the protection of female workers through the activities under the authority of a number of agencies and individuals such as the Court system, mediators, etc. recognized by labor law. As a judicial agency exercising judicial power, it can resolve labor disputes and try crimes in the labor field, so when female workers and their representative organizations consider that their rights have been violated, they have the right to request the Court to resolve the dispute to ensure their rights.

In addition to the above measures, there are a number of measures to protect the rights of female workers such as:

- Social impact measures: Use public opinion or through trade unions to create pressure on employers to force them to meet certain rights for female workers.

- Measure of joint strike: Is an economic measure to demand some demands for female workers when participating in labor relations. According to regulations, strikes initiated by trade unions are legal strikes, however, in some enterprises, trade unions have not been established. Moreover, the strike procedure is cumbersome and complicated, to organize a strike, it must go through many steps, thus losing the opportunity of the case.

Chapter 1 Conclusion

In this Chapter, the Thesis has systematized the basic theoretical issues on female labor such as: Concept, position, role and characteristics, rights of female labor and ensuring the rights of female labor according to Vietnamese labor law. Thereby, we can see that female labor has a separate position, role, and characteristics in terms of psychology and physical strength compared to male labor. On the other hand, stemming from the specific characteristics of female labor, the protection of female labor is still an urgent requirement in every stage of development. Through the analysis and evaluation of female labor in Chapter 1, it can be seen that both international law and the laws of countries are interested in and pay attention to protecting the rights of female labor, this will be an important premise for studying labor law and the practice of protecting the rights of female labor in our country through Chapters 2 and 3.

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