Women Presence in World of Work: The Reality in Rough Numbers
Athough almost three-quarters of the
Vietnamese female working-age population has been consistently contributing to
the labour force for over two decades, Vietnamese women still face numerous
barriers to employment equality – particularly following COVID-19, as they have
been shown to be more susceptible to unemployment than men.
According to the Asian Development Bank and the Organization for
Economic Co-operation and Development, in 2019 around 79 per cent of women aged
between 15 and 64 were either actively employed or looking for jobs in Vietnam,
compared to 85 per cent of men. While there is still a gap, Vietnam has
consistently outperformed other ASEAN and most Western countries, with its
higher female labour participation rates.
Adverse pandemic impact on employment equity
A report by the International Labour
Organization (ILO) shows that following the emergence of the pandemic, female
participation in the labour force continued on a negative trend, dropping
further in 2020, as women have been more vulnerable to pandemic-related job
displacements than men.
Young women between the ages of 15 and 24
years as well as those from 55 years accounted for 28 per cent of the labour
force in 2019. However, in the third quarter of 2020, this decreased to 24.7
per cent. With a larger proportion of women than men leaving the labour force,
Vietnam’s labour participation gap has increased.
It is being deemed a disappointing turn of
events, as Vietnam had been globally renowned prior to COVID-19 for its
consistent gender balance in labour participation. In order for Vietnam to
regain this stature, the obvious disparities and challenges faced by the female
half of its population during the pandemic will need to be acknowledged and
addressed.
Qualifications women hold in Vietnam
Reports by the International Monetary Fund
show that men and women in Vietnam graduate at roughly the same rate at the
postsecondary level.
This is a result of Vietnam’s successful
translating of gender parity into education, which has, in turn, lead to an
almost level gender participation rate in the labour force.
A report by McKinsey & Company shows that
female graduates account for over half of the bachelor’s degrees awarded in the
country, more than 30 per cent of the master’s degrees, and 17 per cent of the
doctorates.
Similarly, another ILO report showed that of
all the active women in the labour market, 10 per cent have completed tertiary
education, whereas only 5 per cent of men have done so.
Despite women’s qualifications, occupational
stereotypes and gender bias still tend to make men the preferred hire.
According to the ILO, this is especially true in highly professional or
technical jobs, despite women’s equal qualifications.
Women in senior roles
Studies by the ILO showed that women tend to
have more limited access than men to high-quality employment opportunities,
particularly in high level or senior management positions, where fewer and
fewer women are represented the higher the position.
This sort of recession is known as a “leaky
pipeline”, describing a commonality around the world where fewer and fewer
women are present in higher leadership and management positions.
This is evident through surveyed enterprises
by the ILO in Vietnam, where 63 per cent indicated that women were present at
the supervisory management level, 73 per cent confirmed that they had women as
middle managers, but only 15 per cent answered that women held top executive
positions. A recent report by Grant Thornton, however, indicated that women are
holding their own in HR and CFO roles.
Throughout history, social and cultural norms
around the world have ingrained in women that traits that are commonly
associated with them – such as kindness, empathy, and compassion – do not make
good leaders. Instead, to succeed as a woman, they must emulate traits commonly
associated with men such as ambition and aggression.
Though not all women share the same leadership
styles, many women bring a broader range of qualities that are necessary for
modern leaders such as self-awareness, empathy, humility, emotional attunement,
and authenticity.
For a company or an organisation to overlook
women and their potential as leaders and high-level managers would be to
dismiss half of their potential workforce and their ability to be competitive
in this modern global economy.
Skilled and unskilled Vietnamese women
Many unskilled women seeking paid work are
pushed towards the informal economy. According to a report by the Munich
Personal RePEc Archive, despite the large numbers of women in the workforce,
the large majority are unskilled and untrained and work in labour-intensive
sectors, such as footwear, textiles, food, and manufacturing, as well as
processing, porcelain, and glass.
Meanwhile in Vietnam, according to the World Economic
Forum, female attainment in the science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics fields is half as many as men at 15 per cent compared to 31 per
cent.
Female entrepreneurs in Vietnam
Cited by the recent Mastercard Index of Women
Entrepreneurs, a report covering how women in business are progressing
globally, 26.5 per cent of business owners in Vietnam are female.
The study suggests that this is due to their
stronger inclination to start a business or engage in entrepreneurial
activities than their male counterparts – with the activity rate for women in
Vietnam being 24.8 per cent, against 21.7 per cent for men.
However, bias and stereotypes are still
persistent for female entrepreneurs as women are more likely to own retail and
wholesale businesses as opposed to manufacturing and industrial enterprises.
Average monthly salary
Reports by the General Statistics Office this
year showed that male workers earn VND7.6 million ($330) per month on average,
which is 1.2 times higher than female workers who are paid VND6.6 million
($287) on average.
Regarding the public and private sector, the gender pay gap in
mean hourly wages in the private sector is 10.3 per cent, whereas it is 7.2 per
cent in the public sector.
Source: https://vir.com.vn/women-presence-in-world-of-work-the-reality-in-rough-numbers-84711.html
