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Inequalities across the life course have been identified as part of the ten global challenges for social security. The gender pay gap and gender pension gap are cases in point. They are mainly the result of part-time work, gender segregated labour markets, lower wages and unpaid work and care. Women also tend to suffer more from the lack of work-life balance, which can result in increased stress and related disabilities, influencing their labour market participation and their access to social security.
Women to face a disproportionate risk of economic insecurity in their older years due to longer life expectancies than men, gender and racial inequities in the workplace, caregiving responsibilities, and less savings accumulated over the years. With the COVID-19 pandemic further widening gender and racial disparities, older women depend on Social Security for financial stability now more than ever.
In recent years, Vietnam has made important strides in improving institutions to expand social security coverage with the ultimate goal of covering all citizens by social security throughout their life.
Social security plays an important role in reducing and alleviating poverty, preventing social exclusion and promoting social inclusion.Social protections crucial for older persons, persons with disabilities, youth Social pensions are a critical element of the right to social security for older persons whose human rights enjoyment is endangered without an adequate social pension. Older women are especially at risk. They live longer, and the unpaid care work they perform throughout their life obstructs their ability to access formal employment and therefore contributory social security or decent wages. Social and economic policies should correct this imbalance by promoting equality between women and men instead of deepening the gap. Childcare, for example, should be guaranteed as a social protection measure. The level of benefits for social pensions must ensure an adequate standard of living.

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Social protection is key for persons with disabilities to gain independence from families, boost their social participation and support their ability to live with dignity. It can enhance the productivity, employability and economic development of persons with disabilities, and therefore contribute to their income security.

Social protection is crucial in mitigating the negative impacts of unemployment on youth, creating access to further education, facilitating their transition from school to work and improving their labour market opportunities, while securing the enjoyment of at least their core economic and social rights, including their rights to health, food, water and sanitation, education and housing.
International integration and economic development have enabled Vietnam to strengthen its social security system in recent years. In the face of greater competition due to integration, the impact of the 4th Industrial Revolution, climate change and epidemics, and its aging population, Vietnam has improved its social security system to promote human development.
In Vietnam, the social security system is based on the pillars of sustainable poverty reduction; vocational training, labor and employment, social insurance, health insurance, and other types of insurance, and social protection and basic social services.Vietnam’s development orientation until 2030 is clearly stated in the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress, which emphasizes the need to implement social policies, ensure social security, welfare and human security, create drastic changes in social development management, realize social progress and justice, and improve the quality of people's lives  and their happiness.

To accomplish these goals, Vietnam aims to build a multi-tiered social security system to increase social security coverage, improve social security benefits, and reduce gender disparity in implementing social security policies. Vietnam's social security system will be based on a lifecycle approach to become sustainable, inclusive, shock-responsive, and gender-sensitive, ensure rapid national development and leave no one behind.