Vietnamese Women – A look to the future…

 

Over the last three months newspapers released many remarkable news stories related to gender issues.

 

Until the end of 2010, it was believed that almost 60% of families suffered from domestic violence in Vietnam. (“Gan 60% phu nu Viet Nam bi bao hanh gia dinh”, 25.11.2010, SGTT Media news)

 

In late February 2011, a noteworthy news story was highlighted in Tuoi Tre, a local newspaper about Vietnamese women who were paid to bear children in Thailand. That action is considered to be illegal under Vietnam law and the act must be prevented by enforcing the law. The women who were suffering as a result of these events have been under the care of both the Thailand and Vietnam governments and the children of these women are granted Vietnamese citizenship. (“De Thue Xu Nguoi” 26.02.2011, Tuoi Tre news)

 

Recent news informed us that Government and society has gradually taken more action toward women’s lives and their rights. Specifically, the government wants to achieve a ratio of at least 30% female members in the coming electoral congress canvass and people's council. (“Bau cu quoc hoi cac cap: Phan dau co tu 30% dai bieu la nu”, 21.02.2011, Vnexpress news)

 

In February, the Vietnam General Federation of Labor together with ICEM[AH1]  held a conference with regard to the 1983 convention that approved a campaign to protect pregnant women. 

    

Until February of 2011 almost 1000 women in Vietnam had been given small business loans. In addition 150 needy women were offered free job training. (“Gan 1000 phu nu duoc ho tro vay von kinh doanh nho”, 26.02.2011, SGTT news)

Students from Thuong Mai Da Nang College (Da Nang Commerce College) attended a “sex education lecture[AH2] ” that provided students with sex education and trade union skills[AH3] . (“100 sinh vien tham gia sex tour”, 27.02.2011, Tuổi Trẻ news)

The most outstanding event featured by the Vietnamese media in the last three months was the celebration of The International Women’s Day on March 8, 2011. The founding of the Women’s Intellectual Club with 28 original members was believed to be a large step toward assembling intellectual women from many fields (laws, education, culture…) in HCMC. (“Ra mat cau lac bo Nu Tri Thuc”, 08.03.2011, Phu Nu news)

 

In early March 2011 the Nguoi Lao Dong News featured an exclusive interview with Mr. Vu Manh Loi (PhD in Sociology) who thought that “men should be encouraged to undertake housework.” He didn’t think women should have the responsibility to take care of every single thing in the house while the men did nothing. This phenomenon was caused by our culture tracing back to  a feudal society. He believed that gender inequality still exists in many fields in our society and that we still have the opportunity to act on it by educating youth and changing our outdated thoughts by reaching out to the world. (Nen co vu nam gioi dam viec nha”, 07.03.2011, Nguoi Lao Dong news)

 

The news media also indicated that women have proven step-by-step that they are equally able to contribute as do men. One-hundred women were honored as Typical Business Women on March 3, 2011. According to the accounting and consulting firm Grant Thornton, the percentage of women in firms who were in charge in higher positions is trending upward. For example, 16% of the CEO positions were held by women in the human resource department, and women were in charge in 10% of director positions . (“Ty le phu nu giu vi tri cap cao co xu huong tang”, 09.03.2011, Phu Nu news)

 

As Vietnam is growing to adapt to the changing world, it must change for the better. One of the pending issues is the solution for gender inequality. Government and intellectuals have become aware of the benefits to a society that has equality, and they are trying to apply these changes to everyone: their efforts surely will not be wasted due to their having influenced our thoughts toward change.

Vo Thi Diem Phuong (Gender and Society Research Center)

---