Gender in Vietnam

1
Gender in Vietnam

• Boundaries and Possibilities

2
The Gender Ethos

• Family Happiness
• Women responsible for family happiness
• take care of children and manage the family life
• responsible for education and upbringing of
  children
• Social Production
• All work and earn a living, and contribute to
  society
• Mutual Sacrifice (Gia Dinh, Dinh, Nuoc)
• Balance, Harmony and Reconciliation

3
The World of Women

• Legends of Matriarchy
• History of Heroines Warriors
• Rural Women Face to the earth, back to the sky
  -- Agriculture and Handicrafts
• Market Women Female Entrepreneurship
• Motherhood and Daughters-in-Law
• The Double Burden of Women
• Social Oppression the Womens Union
• Socialism and Womens Rights

4
The World of Men

• Rural Peasants and Buffaloes
• Urban Mandarins and Skilled Workers
• Contacts and Relationships
• Father as the Family King
• Outward Orientation
• Tension of Change -- Sharing Power

5
Women 10 Years after Doi Moi

• Female primary agricultural labor while men leave
  to find jobs elsewhere
• Growth of Women in Service Sector
• Industries with pre-dominant female labor, low
  wages
• 17.69 women illiterate, 8.6 of men

• Women with University degrees -- 1.3, men 2.5
• Increasing equality between genders in rights and
  responsibilities of family members
• Political Representation increasing
• Laws protecting women and children developed

6
Possible Responses to Entry into Perceived Gender
Domains
Rejection------Resistance------Resignation------Ac
ceptance
CONFLICT
COOPERATION