(VNF) - Nearly 300 people have participated in "Pancake run - Understanding to Love", an event honoring women on the occassion of the International Women's Day (March 8^th) on Sunday, March 4^th at Thong Nhat Park, Hanoi.

Participants take part in the run in Hanoi.

Beside normal distances such as 2km (one loop of the park), 6km (three loops) and 10km (five loops), the event had a unique category: 2-km-pancake run (flipping cake while pan-hold running). A lovely apron was provided for each participant to share the love, the care for the women who spend the whole life to cook for her families.

When it comes to cooking, we often imagine the image of a woman wearing aprons, hand-stir frying, preparing delicious meals for family meals. Cooking, cleaning, caring for children,...along with countless other names, time consuming, frequent repetitions, and sometimes heavy labor, make women sacrifices a lot other benefits.

According to ActionAid and AFV, on average, Vietnamese women spend 5 hours in unpaid care work, 2 to 2.5 hours more than men every day. As much as 50 hours per month is the average time that women with children under 6 months care for their children, due to lack of public health care. 2 hours a day is the average time that women in a mountainous district in northern Vietnam use to collect water and firewood because of lack of clean water near where they live.

Flipping the pancake while running.

“Although the work takes a lot of time for each households and contributes significantly to the economy of the country, unpaid care work has not received the respect of family members, especially men and the community. All this becomes a burden on women's shoulders, causing them to sacrifice many other benefits,” said Hoang Phuong Thao, AAV Country Director at the event.

“The Government needs to invest more in rural development initiatives such as electrification, clean water, as well as support facilities like kindergartens, and schools which will help to free up time for women,” she added.

Male participants shout “Understanding to Love” while posing for a photo at the end of run.

The “Chay Vi Minh - Run For Self” club was established by 36-year-old Pham Duy Cuong, the first Vietnamese to complete the Everest Marathon in Nepal in 2017.

According to Cuong, the event "Pancake run - Understanding to Love" is not just a community engagement event through fun sport activities but also an opportunity for us to understand, appreciate and actively share the burden of unpaid work with women. in the family. The event also represents the voice of the community, with the expectation that the government will increase investment in necessary public services, reallocate resources to ensure gender equality and sustainable development.

“This is a very great idea. I will definitely participate in next run,” said Joseph, one of the foreigners attending the event./.

Phuong Nguyen