Women’s Position in Vietnam - A Critical Literature Review

Abstract

Throughout the history of the country's construction and development, both men and women in Vietnam have subjected themselves to various religious and political prescriptions, such that they form a coherent framework of discourses. Many of these discourses have prescribed and inscribed different roles and statuses for men and women respectively in Vietnamese society in ways that continue to emphasise the authority of men over women in both social and familial contexts. While equality has an increasing voice in policy discourse, traditional values appear to have been reinvigorated through the use of discursive readings of what it means to be "modem" in contemporary society. Indeed, the reality is women today are still expected at an official level to be capable of full time employment and simultaneously fulfilling a role as full time wives and mothers. Within this perspective, this paper therefore examines the extent to which these traditional gender arrangements have been subject to continuities and changes over time. This social dynamic will be explored through a number of different analytical lenses, namely Confucianism, nationalism and socialism, Đổi mới and globalisation.