User:Brittany Lai/sandbox

**scroll to the bottom for my plans of revisions**

Women in contemporary society

For thousands of years, South East Asian women enjoyed a higher role in society than their counterparts in the Western world . Following their colonization by European powers, many lost their standing and were placed in the domestic sphere. Instead of being involved in their society, working as trade intermediaries like they once were, women were expected to marry and become submissive housewives. This shift in gender roles became a new cultural practice and lasted for years. Until the Vietnam War, that is, when women, in rural Vietnam specifically, became discouraged from marrying and female singlehood became a growing trend. A common belief was that after the mid-twenties, women were considered undesirable and marriage was a way of life. The cap for marriage was at this age because after this time, women could no longer bare children, a necessity for the survival of the family name. In addition, "the idea of a one-person, self-sufficient household was not very acceptable." It was looked at as selfish and lonely. After the age of twenty-five, single women enter a period where they "make the transition from temporary to permanent non-marriage." As they go through this period, society perceived them as being "wishful" or even "regretful". However, when women were interviewed, nearly all showed no sign of remorse from rejecting marriage proposals during their prime ages for marriage. They were happy with their decision to opt out of a possible "miserable" life with a husband.

Familial obligations, especially during the Vietnam War, forced many women to put off marriage until they reached an age where they were viewed as "unfavorable". From a young age, the eldest child of a Vietnamese family had a variety of obligations to uphold. One of which was having to care for their younger siblings. During time of war, it was difficult for the parents to overlook agricultural labor while taking care of all their children. If the eldest daughter were to be married off, the family would lose a hand of labor. Because of this obligation, women rejected offerings of marriage. After the war, women continued to help around the household and replaced the men they lost in combat. Although many still had proposals for marriage, they believed that it was fate that they had been single for that long and that they were meant for singlehood. The gender imbalance that followed the Vietnam War was also a cause in the rise of single women. It was hard for them because men living in rural areas were hesitant to marry them. In addition, those who work at state farms and forestry stations were stationed in remote areas. This limited women from socializing with the opposite sex.

Family

Domestic role

Confucianism's emphasis on the family still impacts Vietnamese women’s lives, especially in rural areas, where it espouses the importance of premarital female virginity and condemns abortion and divorce. Women are seen primarily as mothers, and are considered to have shown "respect" to their husband’s lineage if they give birth to a boy. While patrilineal ancestor worship shows girls as "outside lineage" (ho ngoai), it consider boys to be "inside lineage" (ho noi). Vietnamese society tends to follow the ancestral line through males, pushing women to the periphery. Vietnam has a two child policy. Some families want at least one boy, but would prefer two boys to two girls, so they use ultrasound machines to determine the baby’s sex to later abort female offspring.

(below is from "Motherhood" section)

The main religion in Vietnam are traditional folk beliefs (Vietnam Folk Religion). This is not an organized religion, however it does adopt many Confucian views. One of the main views that it takes from Confucius is the Patrilinneal Society. Men are the head of the family and more their lineage is to be protected. As it pertains to motherhood, Vietnam women are seen as and used primarily as mothers. Female virginity is of extreme importance, especially in rural areas, and the Society condemns abortion and female divorce. If a women wants to show respect to her husband, the best way she can do that is to bear him a son. If she bears a son not only does she show respect to her husband but also to his lineage. If she bores a daughter she does not disrespect his lineage, however the daughter will be deemed ho ngoai or "outside the lineage", where as if she bores a son he will be deemed ho noi or "inside the lineage". For this reason Vietnam society ancestral lines goes through males and pushes females to the sides.

Domestic violence

In a study comparing Chinese and Vietnamese attitudes towards women, more Vietnamese than Chinese said that the male should dominate the family and a wife had to provide sex to her husband at his will. Violence against women was supported by more Vietnamese than Chinese. Domestic violence was more accepted by Vietnamese women than Chinese women.

The Ho Tay water park in Hanoi was the scene of a mass sexual assault by men against girls as they groped the girls and tore their bikinis from their bodies and Vietnamese officials blamed the girls for being attacked, with bystanders ignoring the girls while they were assaulted and people cheered and applauded photos of the men assaulting the women which were posted on Facebook by the men.

International marriage

Some Vietnamese women from Lao Cai who married Chinese men stated that among their reasons for doing so was that Vietnamese men beat their wives, engaged in affairs with mistresses, and refused to help their wives with chores, while Chinese men actively helped their wives carry out chores and care for them. Vietnamese women are traveling to China as mail order brides for rural Chinese men to earn money for their families and a rise in the standard of living, matchmaking between Chinese men and Vietnamese women has increased and has not been effected by troubled relations between Vietnam and China. Vietnamese mail order brides have gone to Taiwan for marriage Vietnamese mail order brides have gone to South Korea for marriage.

Sex ratios

Sex-selective abortions

In 1988, Vietnam introduced its "two-child policy." This policy was introduced because of the population size of Vietnam. However, because of the policy, if a woman gave birth to a son first, the chances of her having a second child dropped dramatically even if she desired to have more children. If a woman gave birth to a daughter first, she was more than likely to have a second child even if she did not wish to have additional children. This is because families in most cases would rather have at least one boy. To ensure the sex of children in recent years, Vietnamese families have increasingly been using ultrasound technology and enhancing and developing the produced images. This often leads to the abortion of female offsprings.

Education

Local credit associations do not feel secure giving loans to single mothers, which has resulted in a poverty increase for households that are led by a woman. There is a gender gap in education, as males are more likely to attend school-and stay in school- than females. Women and men tend to be segregated into different jobs, with more women serving in educational, communications, and public services than men.

Economy

Gender pay gap

The average wage in the country of Vietnam was US$1,540 in 2012. "One of the key issues facing the gender gap issue in Vietnam is polarization between gender groups within the economy." "The 2011 General Statistical Office data showed that women earn thirteen percent less than men. The 2012 survey on workers’ salaries carried out by the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL) in enterprises nationwide revealed that female workers’ salaries are only seventy to eight per cent of their male colleagues’ The global average gender pay gap is hovering around seventeen percent According to Nguyen Kim Lan, ILO national project coordinator, the only 2 occupational fields where pay is equal is in logistics, and household care One reason for the disparity is that companies view women as wanting to stay at home and perform more gender role duties. Unlike, in Vietnam most developed countries have seen their gender pay gap decrease.More than seventy percent of laborers in Vietnam are women.The International Labour Organizations recently stated that the gender pay gap has started to increase. However,Vietnam is one of the only countries that's’ gap has continued to increase according to the ILO Global Wage Report 2012-13 during the period compared to 1999-2007 A two percent increase in the gap was recorded in Vietnam in the period.

Politics

Women’s participation in the National Assembly is at its lowest since 1997. Little progress has been made to move ahead of the thirty percent average of women’s representation in Vietnam . Within the Vietnam Communist Party, women’s membership has slowly climbed, and in 2010 was thirty-three percent. However, the number of women leaders in key positions such as in the Politburo, Central Committee and the Secretariat remains low. Like many other countries the Vietnamese government has signed documents stating that it would increase the percent of women in government, which in 2011 was still at thirty percent. In national documents targets are set, responsibility is determined, and a budget is given.There are several reasons that the government can not meet its quota to have more women in government. The reasons include factors such as. "inadequate government regulations, lack of implementation of existing policies, cultural factors, and inherent systemic bias towards men." Many women that want to engage in politics are often discouraged because of age-related training eligibility criteria and a retirement age that is five years earlier than males Workplace attitudes are challenges for women to achieve their aspiration of leadership positions. Unlike males, women are harassed much more in their occupations, and promotion is dependent upon the supervisors discretion and how he feels about gender promotion. Many women in Vietnam are often to perform common gender roles. There are few women role models for young women to follow or to be inspired by. Many women in Vietnam do not see themselves as becoming leaders because there a lack of female leaders to look up to. This occurs because of messages that are expressed socially in media, home, and education. The government of Vietnam is controlled by the communists party. Since the party was formed in 1930, women’s membership has not been high. However, membership levels have increased in recent times. In 2010, the membership of women in the Communist Party reached thirty-two point eight percent. This is a significant increase from 2005 when women’s membership was only twenty point nine percent. Despite this increase, the membership of women in the party is still less than men. One of the reasons there are so few women in the party is because it is seldom that women will be put into leadership positions. The small group of women who are considered for leadership positions receive appointments in administrative government and as candidates for elections. Also, statistics show that women have a very small say in the party itself. Additionally, as the Party is the main gatekeeper in terms of recruitment and promotion, we see that it is largely men who decide who is recruited and promoted.

Human trafficking

Main article: Human trafficking in Vietnam

Since the 1980s, some women from Vietnam have become victims of kidnapping, the bride-buying trade, and human trafficking and prostitution in China., Taiwan, South Korea, and in the cases of human trafficking, prostitution and sexual slavery, Cambodia. The present-day struggle of the Vietnamese female victims of "bride-brokers" can be summarized by the larger-than-life poem known as the "The Tale of Kieu," which narrates the story of a female protagonist of Vietnam who was purchased by foreigners and was violated, yet kept fighting back against her captors and offenders.

The main human rights issue in Southeast Asia is Human trafficking. Southeast Asian countries preference for boys over girls is further tipping the balance between the sexes in the region, already skewed by a strong bias for boys. The trend has led to increased trafficking of women. While many of the victims that are a part of human trafficking are forced/kidnapped/enslaved, others were lewed in under the assumption that they were getting a better job. According to a policy brief on human trafficking in Southeast Asia, although victims include girls, women, boys, and men the majority are women. Women tend to be more highly targeted by traffickers due to the fact that they are seeking opportunity in an area of the world where limited economic opportunities are available for them. Unskilled and poorly educated women are commonly led into human trafficking. According to the UNODC report, the numbers for women and men in forced labor may be skewed due to the fact that only a few countries released the numbers for adult men. However what is known is that women are trafficked the most. The main causes of human trafficking in Southeast Asia are universal factors such as poverty and globalization. Industrialization is arguably also another factor of human trafficking. Many scholars argue that industrialization of booming economies, like that of Thailand and Singapore created a draw for poor migrants seeking upward mobility and individuals wanting to leave war torn countries.These migrants were an untapped resource in growing economies that had already exhausted the cheap labor from within its borders. A high supply of migrant workers seeking employment and high demand from an economy seeking cheap labor creates a perfect combination for human traffickers to thrive. The sex industry emerged in Southeast Asia in the mid 20th century as a way for women to generate more income for struggling migrants and locals trying to support families or themselves. Sex industries first catered to military personnel on leave from bases but as military installations began to recede the industry turned its attention to growing tourism. Even as the industry is looked down upon today there is still a large underground market that is demanding from traffickers.

Between 2005 and 2009, 6,000 women, as well as younger girls, were found to be in the human trafficking statistic. The majority of the women and girls are trafficked to China, 30% are trafficked to Cambodia, and the remaining 10% are trafficked to the destinations across the world.

Shift toward gender equality

In recent decades Vietnam has stressed the importance of gender equality. Traditionally the role men play in the society of the country has been superior to the roles women have played. From family roles to education men have been the preference in these societies for most of their existence. While the societies are still gendered in many ways, gender relation are starting to shift to be more equitable. For example, In the 1980s, the Vietnam Women’s Union increased paid maternity leave and received a promise that they would be asked before the government implemented any policies that could potentially affect the welfare of women. However, the increased maternity leave was restored to its original length a few years later. The Vietnam Women’s Union itself, while advocating and pushing for the educational, economic and political progress of Vietnamese women, still instructs women to keep the family hierarchy in place, allowing men to dominate as the Confucian tradition commands. Unlike many of the women movements of the west these women in this region take what they a given politically. Also they are not as many women political groups in this region as they are in the west. While there are limits in the Vietnam Women’s Union that prohibit gender change in certain areas, there do not seem to be other organized civil society groups that are fighting for women’s rights. This limits the capacity for change. Two areas that have seen little change throughout recent decades are the roles women play in the family in particular motherhood, and the human rights problems women traditionally face in the region.

Plans for revisions

Details of my rationale and a comprehensive plan and outline can also be found at this Google Doc.

Contributions to Women in Vietnam article

A large part of my contributions will be towards the "Contemporary societal influences" section in the Women in Vietnam article. Firstly, I would like to change the title of the section to "Women in contemporary society", which I believe is less confusing and more direct about what the information in the section will deliver. I would like to add information pertaining to how the current Vietnamese society views women in terms of domesticity, social advancement, and other political and economic domains, while also detailing mortality rates. This will include a massive restructuring of the section as a whole, such as merging other sections into subsections within Contemporary societal influences. Furthermore, I will add new subsections for family, child mortality, economy, and politics. The family subsection will be broken up further into more subsections, while I am considering devoting a new subsection to sex ratio, which I will break down further into sections covering sex-selective abortions and female mortality. These subsections will include preexisting information already in the article, as well as additional information and statistics as well. In sum, the content in the “Contemporary societal influences” section is primarily riddled with descriptions of conditions; I believe finding relevant statistics to insert in would help increase the legitimacy of the article as a whole and thus improve its rating. For a final touch, adding additional visual aids would help to improve the status of the article as well.

Photos I plan to add to the article:

Annotated Bibliography

1.    Higgins, R. (2015). Is It My Job to Make Him Care? Middle-Class Women and Gender Inequality in Ho Chi Minh City. Anthropology of Work Review, 36(2), 74-86. doi:10.1111/awr.12069

This article by Higgins will help to expand a new Economy sub-section, under "Contemporary societal influences" with its detailing of middle-class women in Vietnam and their expected economic roles. Higgins conducts an ethnographic study of women in Vietnam while writing about the women navigating throughout their professional lives, as well as their wages, hours worked, and more. Higgins's synopsis and study would help to provide an insightful and unique perspective to this article. Information from this study could also expand the information on women's domestic role, which I plan to include under a new Family sub-section.

2.    Kelly, K. (2000). The higher education system in Vietnam. World Education News and Reviews, 13(3), 5-6.

This article gives a general overview of the education system in Vietnam, including statistics pertaining to the amount of teachers and students in the system and educational budget. The article further continues on to describe literacy rates in the country and trends amongst females and males. In addition to outlining the various stipulations of the education system in Vietnam, Kelly points out different statistics specific to women as well, such as age limits for women in higher institutions. These details will help to expand the short Education sub-section under "Contemporary societal influences" to include more relevant information.

3.    Kelly, K. (2009). Obliged to Mother, Required to Retire: Gender, Class, Equality and Retirement Rights in Vietnam. Conference Papers -- American Sociological Association, 1.

This source outlines retirement rights for women in Vietnam and the stipulations attached in pertinence to their Domestic and economic role. Therefore, this source is relevant to the project at hand in its contribution to the Family and Economy subsection. Included in this article, Kelly outlines arguments by Vietnamese women laborers for earlier retirement ages and by other women for equal retirement ages.

4.    Kelly, K. (2011, October). Vietnam case study (preliminary findings): Women in educational leadership and management. In A paper presented during the Gender Equality in Education: Looking beyond parity. An IIEP evidence based policy forum held in Paris between (pp. 3-4).

The information found in this source would help contribute to the Education and Politics subsection of the "Contemporary societal influences" section of this article. Kelly describes the percentages of women participating in politics and the leadership positions they hold. Furthermore, Kelly outlines current plans by Vietnamese government to improve women representation, such as the National Strategy on Gender Equality. Part of these efforts involve increased training and curriculum, as well as increasing women representation in the education sector of Vietnam society.

5.    Knodel, J., Vu Manh, L., Jayakody, R., & Vu Tuan, H. (2005). GENDER ROLES IN THE FAMILY. Asian Population Studies,1(1), 69-92. doi:10.1080/17441730500125888

This source outlines a study performed on numerous married families in the Red River Delta region of Vietnam. Through this study, the authors explore Vietnamese women's domestic role in the family unit, and various tasks and responsibilities that are expected of them. This source will help to expand the Family subsection of this article, specifically pertaining to women's domestic role.

6.    Larsen, J. J. (2010). Migration and people trafficking in southeast Asia. Trends & Issues In Crime & Criminal Justice, (401), 1-6.

Larsen describes human trafficking trends across southeast Asian countries, including exploitation, rough statistics, and data on trafficking by gender. Larsen details of general trends and practices across destination and source countries in southeast Asia ("push" and "pull" countries), and I believe this information can be pertinent to the human trafficking section already existent on this article.

7.    Pham, B. N., Hall, W., Hill, P. S., & Rao, C. (2008). Analysis of socio-political and health practices influencing sex ratio at birth in Viet Nam. Reproductive Health Matters, 16(32), 176-184.

The information in this source would help contribute to the new Child mortality subsection I plan to create under the "Contemporary societal influences" subsection. The authors of this article detail the influence sex-selective abortions and Vietnam's two-child policy have on sex ratios at birth in Vietnam. Furthermore, they outline various other factors that could influence a shifting of the sex ratio.

8.    Pham, T., Kooreman, P., Koning, R., & Wiersma, D. (2013). Gender patterns in Vietnam's child mortality. Journal Of Population Economics, 26(1), 303-322.

This article studies child mortality rates in Vietnam, with a specific focus on gender differences. The authors describe trends and declines in child mortality rates over the past years, as well as child mortality rates by gender-- specifically, how they are affected by the education levels of each parent. I plan to use this source to add to my subsection on child mortality.

9.    Sen, A. (2003). Missing women—revisited: Reduction in female mortality has been counterbalanced by sex selective abortions. BMJ : British Medical Journal, 327(7427), 1297–1298.

This article outlines the relationship between female mortality, sex ratios, and sex-selective abortions-- phenomenons familiar to Asian regions. Sen proposes that while female mortality rates are declining, practices of sex-selective abortions are increasing, which can in turn affect sex ratios. The intersectionality between all these issues is an interesting and intuitive point I want to include within the child mortality section in order to tie everything together.

10.    Schuler, S. R. (2006). Constructions of gender in Vietnam: in pursuit of the 'three criteria'. Culture, Health And Sexuality,8(5), 383-394.

This source examines grassroots-level political activity in Vietnam towards women and gender equality advancement. Furthermore, Schuler identifies general trends and improvements Vietnamese legislation has made towards improving gender equality, especially relative to other Asian countries. This analysis continues on to place special focus on the Vietnam Women's Union and their political ventures. I believe this source would be highly relevant to the politics subsection I plan to add to this article.

11.    Teerawichitchainan, B., Knodel, J., Vu Manh, L., & Vu Tuan, H. (2010). The Gender Division of Household Labor in Vietnam: Cohort Trends and Regional Variations. Journal Of Comparative Family Studies, 41(1), 57-85.

This study looks at trends in improvements and failures political development in Vietnam have made towards women's domestic role in the family and the responsibilities expected of them. Included in this study is an analysis gender roles in Vietnam, including critiques and acknowledgements where they are justified. The study and analysis included in this source is relevant to family subsection of this article.

12.    Truong Thi Thuy, H. (2008). Women's Leadership in Vietnam: Opportunities and Challenges. Signs: Journal Of Women In Culture & Society, 34(1), 16-21.

Truong's work in this article further expands upon efforts Vietnamese government has made towards gender equity in the political realm. Specifically, Truong focuses on improvements in women representation in high leading positions in Vietnam, such as detailing efforts at instituting a gender quota for Vietnam's National Assembly. I plan to include the information and statistics presented in this study towards the politics subsection I plan to add.

13.    Vu, H. S. (2014). Divorce in the context of domestic violence against women in Vietnam. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 16(6), 634-647.

This paper outlines problems of domestic violence and divorce within Vietnam, an issue I want to expand on within this article. There is already a short section dedicated to domestic violence in this article, so I plan to add supplementary material from this source to make the section more informative. This paper offers a variety of statistics concluding that domestic violence is a significant issue in Vietnam, as well as explanations as to why this issue might be suppressed by many women.

14.    Waibel, G., & Glück, S. (2013). More than 13 million: mass mobilisation and gender politics in the Vietnam Women's Union. Gender & Development, 21(2), 343-361. doi:10.1080/13552074.2013.802148

This paper expands further on the Vietnam Women's Union, with this organization being the prime focus of analysis. Waibel traces their advocation for women empowerment and how it extends into actual policy developments and societal advancement. More specifically, this paper places the actual union under the microscope and looks at their objectives, membership, and so forth. This subject is highly relevant to politics in Vietnam and would serve a great addition to the related information available in Schuler's paper (source #10).