Landmark report warns of widening gap between women and men

Efforts to improve economic growth and reduce poverty in the past two decades have transformed Viet Nam from an agriculture-based economy to a more diversified and globally integrated one. Although this has improved the livelihoods of millions of its citizens, there is a need to create an inclusive and sustainable growth model to realize the full economic and social rights and overall potential of women.

Launched in Ha Noi after two years of collecting data and analysis, the study "Towards Gender Equality in Viet Nam: Making Inclusive Growth Work for Women" was prepared by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and the Institute for Family and Gender Studies (IFGS), Viet Nam Academy of Social Sciences, with support from the Australian Government and the European Union.

"Australia is pleased to have supported this study because it highlights that gender equality is not a side issue. From agriculture to education, women and men engage differently across different sectors of the economy, and may have different levels of access to resources and services," said Mr. Layton Pike, Deputy Head of Mission at the Australian Embassy in Viet Nam, at the launch of the report on 3 June. "We need to understand the different ways that Viet Nam's rapid economic transformation is impacting women compared to men, so that policies and actions can be targeted to enable everyone to benefit equitably from socio-economic development."

Viet Nam's participation in new trade initiatives, such as Trans-Pacific Partnership signed in 2015 and establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community will open up a range of exciting opportunities for growth, particularly in the manufacturing, garment and electronics sectors. However, current employment growth from earlier trade initiatives has been largely concentrated in unskilled jobs. Opportunities for training, skills development and promotion in these sectors have been limited, especially for women.

As the first comprehensive study looking into the economy through a gender lens, the study assessed Viet Nam's current economic growth model and found that despite women contributing in large measure to economic development, the achievement of an inclusive growth model remains a challenge for Viet Nam. The report cautions that if the benefits of economic growth are unevenly distributed and poorly managed, integration could persist gender segmentation in the labour market, greater vulnerability of female workers and pay gap.

"Viet Nam's current economic growth pattern is not giving adequate attention to ensure that women's right to equally benefit from growth is being fulfilled. If current policies and priorities are not reviewed and reformed from a gender lens, further economic integration will leave women behind," said Ms. Shoko Ishikawa, UN Women Country Representative.

"Prioritizing gender equality should be at the core of development policy. An investment in women is an investment in economic growth," she added.

The report notes that while a number of job opportunities have opened up for female workers in export-oriented manufacturing sectors, women are less likely than men to receive training and be promoted. The gender-earning gap has also widened. It also found that agriculture is still the main source of livelihoods for a large portion of the population, particularly women in the Northern Midlands and Central Highlands regions, but a large share of them work without pay on their family farms. This leaves them vulnerable, with limited opportunities to earn more secure incomes and become more productive. Like in many other countries, women in Viet Nam also spend disproportionately more time on unpaid domestic work than men. The burden of unpaid work limits women's access to economic opportunities and capacity to engage in paid work as well as impacts on power dynamics within households.

A key feature of the study is its recommendations on policy actions that could be promoted to better realize women's potential and make their economic livelihoods more secure, whether they be small-scale farmers, domestic paid workers or garment factory workers. The study can also be used as a reference document on the status of women in Viet Nam, and could drive the adoption of a gender perspective more broadly and systematically across all Government economic policies and programmes.

"The study is a great result of close partnership and coordination between international and national organizations. In order achieve substantive equality, it is necessary to have policies that are inclusive for women and vulnerable groups," said Dr. Dang Nguyen Anh, Vice Director of Viet Nam Academy of Social Sciences.

 The study “Towards gender equality in Viet Nam: Making inclusive growth work for women”