A/HRC/17/34/Add.1 31. Over 80 per cent of women are economically active;28 however, women are particularly vulnerable to extreme poverty and economic shocks as they are generally concentrated in low-wage, unskilled jobs in the informal sector.29 In addition, traditional gender stereotypes increase women’s work burden; despite the advances made between 2002 and 2008, women continued to spend twice as much time as men on household chores.30 As part of its obligation to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women, the Government must ensure that women receive equal remuneration with men for work of equal value in both the formal and informal sectors. It must take specific measures to modify prejudices or stereotyped roles for men and women, in particular in regard to care duties. 32. Women continue to have more limited access than men to economic resources such as land, which contributes to their exposure to poverty. In this sense, the independent expert acknowledges the significant 2003 amendment of the Law on Land, specifying that land certificates must be in the names of both the wife and husband in cases where the land is a mutual asset. However, considerable efforts are needed to bring the situation on the ground in line with the legislation. A survey indicated that in 2006, only 15 per cent of agricultural land and 18 per cent of residential land user certificates were in the names of women or both spouses, with women therefore experiencing limited economic autonomy and access to the formal credit market.31 In the communities visited, women who interacted with the independent expert confirmed that only recently issued land user certificates were in line with the 2003 legal improvement. 33. Reproductive health advances are also uneven. From 1990 to 2008 maternal mortality decreased from 233 to 75 per 100,000 live births as the number of women receiving over three antenatal checks increased. However, this rate is still high and remains four times higher among ethnic minorities and in remote and mountainous areas. Access to adequate reproductive health care services is problematic for many ethnic minority women,32 and there is a shortage of skilled health care workers in these areas, and a lack of midwives who speak ethnic minority languages.33 As acknowledged by the Government, improvements are needed in access to information about reproductive health services and in the provision of adequate services in remote regions and among ethnic minority groups.34 34. Studies also indicate that domestic violence against women remains a serious problem.35 The independent expert welcomes the adoption of the Law on Gender Equality and the Law on Domestic Violence and calls on the State to strengthen their implementation. The Government should enhance its efforts to develop a monitoring and evaluation framework for both laws as well as training for officials. 35. Greater attention should also be paid to incorporating a gender lens in the country’s social protection programmes and policies. The 2009 mid-term evaluation of the National 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 10 Overseas Development Institute, Gendered Risks, Poverty and Vulnerability in Viet Nam, p. 11. Viet Nam MDG National Report 2010, pp. 47-48. Ibid. World Bank and Asia Development Bank, Viet Nam Country Gender Assessment, 2006, p. 43. Viet Nam MDG National Report 2010, p. 62. United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), “Reaching out to Minorities in Viet Nam with Midwives who Speak their Language”, 2010. Viet Nam MDG National Report 2010, p. 62. See for example General Statistics Office of Viet Nam and United Nations, National Study on Domestic Violence against Women in Viet Nam (2010).