Đặng Thị Ngọc Thịnh (; born 25 December 1959) is a Vietnamese politician who served as the acting president of Vietnam in 2018 and as the 16th vice president of Vietnam from 2016 to 2021. She is the first woman in Vietnamese history to hold the Vietnamese presidency and the first female head of state in a communist country since Soong Ching-ling of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Thịnh was elected vice president of Vietnam on 8 April 2016 after winning 91.09% of the vote (450 votes) in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

, continuing the recent norm of having a woman holding this position. Thịnh assumed the acting presidency upon the death of President Trần Đại Quang on 21 September 2018 until the election and swearing-in of Nguyễn Phú Trọng on 23 October 2018. Prior to national politics, Thịnh served in the municipal bureaucracy of

Ho Chi Minh City Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...

before being elected

Secretary A secretary, administrative assistant, executive assistant, personal secretary, or other similar titles is an individual whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, program evalu ...

of Vĩnh Long Provincial Party Committee (''de facto'' province's leader) in 2010. She was a member of the 11th and 13th sessions of the

. Thịnh became a member of the Communist Party of Vietnam on 19 November 1979. Her previous works focused on promoting

gender equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality, gender egalitarianism, or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making, an ...

and women's empowerment by strengthening their role in all aspects of economic, political, cultural and social life. In January 2021, at the 13th National Party Congress, she was not on the list of members of the new Party Central Committee. She retired from politics in April 2021.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Dang, Thi Ngoc Thinh 1959 births Living people Vice presidents of Vietnam Alternates of the 10th Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam Members of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam 20th-century Vietnamese women politicians 20th-century Vietnamese politicians Members of the National Assembly (Vietnam) People from Quảng Nam province Women vice presidents of Vietnam Presidents of Vietnam Women presidents in Asia 21st-century Vietnamese women politicians 21st-century Vietnamese politicians 20th-century presidents in Asia First women presidents

See also

References