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Modern  Asia   What are the effects of Modernization on women in Vietnam?

Ngan, Nguyen Thi Thu – s3255245 Final assignment - Due day: 15 May 2010 - Lecture: Christian Berg      

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The start of modernization has been the reason for many changes in Vietnam and

particularly on Vietnamese women’s perspectives of life. Since it began, it has resulted in

dramatic alternatives both negative and positive effects on Vietnamese culture, women’s

styles of living and their social position changes. There are a lot of distinct arguments about

this issue either support or objection. Based on Vietnamese tradition and virtual standards

from previous generation, this essay will examine some of the possible effects of

modernization on women in Vietnam as well as point out what are the benefits and dangers

which Vietnamese women could suffer from this phenomenon.

Before starting to analyze the impacts of modernization affecting on Vietnamese

women, let have a look the explanation of modernity definition. According to Gaonkar

(1999), there are two opposite notions of modernity: “societal modernization which involves

a set of cognitive and social transformation is both good and inevitable” referring to logic and

society. In contrast, “cultural modernity, raised in opposition- especially its aesthetic wing in

the middle of the nineteenth century, turned its attention to the cultivation and care of the

self” referring to ego and self-generated (Gaokar 1999). Regarding to Vietnamese women in

modern period, these definition are relevant in some ways. Vietnamese women tend to

change their own lifestyle compared to previous generations which is affected by the direct

impacts of societal modernization (this of course brings them both “good and ineviable”

effects. In the contrary, cultural modernity is based on individuals’ desire to challenge them

via experiencing the reality. In other words, most Vietnamese women in the flow of modern

wave also share the same perception as this notion and that is why they want to explore

anything and be “the heroism of modern life” (Gaokar 1999).

The first visible effect is the culture changes which should be considered seriously

on both different sides. Previously, women are strictly looked at by many critics on four

virtues “Cong, dung, ngon, hanh”. According to Drummond & Rydstrom (2004), “Cong

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means how hard working and appreciate the other’s labors the woman can do”. “Dung refers

to the neat of taking care for physical beauty and being humble”. “Ngon emphasizes the

refrain of emotions and verbal reactions even in an uncomfortable situation”. “Hanh is the

beauty of the inside soul from a long process of self-control and self-sacrifice”. Based on

those definitions, the woman who possesses all those virtues of the orthodox Confucian texts

can be an ideal woman as previous generations’ perception. Drummond & Rydstrom also

stated that those four virtues are “not to serve personal happiness of the woman, but rather the

interests of family and community”. In contrast, the modern women have a different concept

from the traditional perspective. They seem to be more powerful and independent of not to be

looked at by the publics but they are the people who look at themselves actively. In terms of

fashion, well-place in the flow of globalization that “is a process that includes a stronger

interdependence among countries and people” (‘globalization & modernity’ 2010),

Vietnamese women may have more opportunities to integrate global markets and absorb the

foreign trends in choosing leisure clothes such as jeans, dress, and T-shirts instead of long

and confidential such as “ao ba ba” and “ao dai” in daily as before. Unfortunately, there are a

large number of young women who abuse this point to wear some “eyesore” clothes to show

off themselves.

Another issue is that the women role in family of being a wife and a mother has been more

respected. In the past, “men heading their family amount to 78.3% while women as house

chiefs account for only 21.7%” (Nguyen 2002), women seem to only play a small part of

decision-making body in the house, like a house-worker and a “birth giving machine”. They

have to do housework, take care of the children, prepare meals but most of them are treated

badly by the men and husband’s family. Nowadays, this fact has been limited into least

because the women rights are more valuable and they can be shared their house-work

responsibilities with husbands legally.

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Finally, Vietnamese women have a choice to their marriage, they do not need to limit

themselves in “three obedience” (Tam Tong): “to obey the father’s words in the family, to

obey the husband’s when married and to obey the eldest son’s after the husband’s death” (Ha

2001). In other words, women in feudal society do not have any their private rights to make

decisions; they are only told and disciplined as parents’ desires. However, due to the impacts

of Western culture, Vietnamese women are stronger and more active to decide whether

maintain or divorce the marriage life. In addition, Modern women in Vietnam seem to change

their notions about getting married “urban women are marrying later and gave more options

with respect to marriage partners” and “poor women areas try to find their husbands from

Hongkong, Taiwan or Singapore” (Nguyen & Thomas 2004). However, those issues lead us

to another problem is that an increasing feminization of migration in both internal and

external Vietnam. There are two controversial things that attract people’s concerns. Firstly,

rural women move to urban areas to have a better job. That is why most factories in Binh

Duong Province are women workers who must deal with “hard work, cheap food, no social

life, dreams of escape” (Tran 2009). Moreover, most rural women also tend to go to other

countries as employees (labor export) but they have no rights at all due to those nations’ law.

For instance, Indonesia employees only can go out one time per month when moving to

Malaysia or Singapore. In some countries, they are treated unfairly women are paid less

salary than men because they are only judged as secondary wage earners. Secondly, most

poor women expecting to get married with foreigners such as Taiwan or Hongkong with a

desire is to have a consistent life. Unfortunately, due to the barrier of language and culture,

they are bullied and suffered negative and violent behaviors from their husband and his

family. In addition, rural women can not predict that “usually foreign "wife buyers" are

poorer, older men from rural areas who cannot land a mate at home” when they decide to

marriage with Chinese men (Clark 2010). Vietnamese women’s alternatives in thoughts and

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actions are to expect a bright future and stable life but if they are not adequate necessary

knowledge and experiences to deal with this complex society, these women probably could

fall into their own trap and get unexpected results.

Analyzing the effects of modernization on lifestyles which “ refers also to decisions

taken and courses of action followed under conditions of severe material constraints; such

lifestyle patterns may sometimes involve the more or less deliberate rejection of more widely

diffused forms of behavior and consumption” (Giddens 1991). This illustrates the freedom in

women’s style of living since “the more tradition loses its hold, and the more daily life is

reconstituted in terms of the dialectical interplay of local and global, the more individuals are

forced to negotiate lifestyle choices among a diversity of options” (Giddens 1991). There are

several main aspects such as behavior, thinking, freedom and activeness which are worth

mentioning in this case. Women in the modern life are more open to love and sex-oriented

matters in social relationships. There is an issue that many young women would like to

experience with their partner which is cohabitation. Also, they no longer find themselves at

an uneasy state when having intimate reactions in public places. “Premarital sex and kissing

in public” are the evidence of that tendency (Nguyen & Thomas 2004).

Additionally, most women in the past only concern about their family rather than their

personal needs but today they tend to pay more attention to their self-esteem and appearance.

That’s why modern Vietnamese women start to spend more time on hanging out with their

friends or colleagues. Furthermore, they also can comfortably make up before leaving home

without caring much about their husband’s attitude. To respond to those demands, a number

of cosmetic surgery centers have been born. As we can see that, modern society offers

Vietnamese women more choices to enjoy life as diverse as possible. Moreover, modern

women have lot opportunities to be more confident and beautiful which can help them be

active at workplaces and in daily activities. Also, this shows their social status to be admired

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and respected than ever. In fact, a beautiful woman often is easier and smoother to attract

other partners in love and clients in job.

Another significant point is the freedom in Vietnamese women’s attitudes and behaviors;

these women may join in any stages that they are interested in although people may think

those jobs are sensitive such as being models, singers and actresses. Particularly, according to

Stivens & Sen (2003), “sexuality is becoming increasingly commercialized in Vietnam”.

Usually, the models are female because this can stimulate more the customers’ consumption

based on their sexual or attractive appearance. Since the compulsory job, they have to use

sexual images to follow the script and this will closely break the tradition about “high walls

and closed gates” which illustrates women who wear confidential clothes as conservative

notions in the past about Vietnamese women’s virtue (Hue Tam Ho Tai, 1992, cited in

Drummond & Rydstrom, p. 50)

The last impact of modernization on women is the social position changes. Imitating

the success of previous Vietnamese women such as Vice President of Socialist Republic of

Vietnam Mrs.Truong My Hoa, Mrs.Ha Thi Khiet – President of Vietnam Women Union, they

are all women and holding high position in Vietnamese Policy and in many different fields

such as economy, business, education, tourism and fashion. This fact represents a new

revolution of Vietnamese women because they understand that either men can be successful

and talented or women can do what men do. Therefore, they have tried to reach a higher

education to get a better job and aver their real capabilities because this is basic foundation

for them to assert their position in new society. The higher respect they have, the more

powerful they will be. This can result in many positive impacts; violence on women will be

eradicated; the rights of women will be considered especially. Moreover, Vietnamese women

who faced real experiences will comprehend clearly the problems. Those successful women

will illustrate for other women that the most important element in that success is mostly self-

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motivated. In other words, women can overcome the troubles and complete themselves not to

depend on the men. To help women, numerous of campaigns and organization has been

established to be a useful guidance in directing women how to be a good wife but also be

powerful and remain the tradition. For instance, the “Phu Nu” magazine, “Tiep thi gia dinh”

magazine, “Dep” magazine, “M” magazine, The Communist Party of Vietnamese, Vietnam

Women Union, “Civilized way of life and cultural family” campaign, clubs, propaganda

channels such as the club for women who will not have a third child and the club for young

mothers (Hoang Bich Nga 1998, cited in Drummond & Rydstrom, p. 162). According to

Drummond and Rydstrom (2004), “the contemporary campaigns focus on social roles and on

women’s roles within the family, emphasizing women’s responsibilities as nurtures and

caregivers, roles which are designated “traditional” to Vietnamese culture”. These strategies

guide women how to filter the benefits to perceive and eliminate the wrong concepts to

follow the modernization process effectively. This rarely happens in the past so via those

campaigns we can see actual advantages of the modern society.

In conclusion, thanks to the women revolution which help enhance the women

position in both family and society so that the violence and unequally treated have been

eradicated to help build up a better country without treatment separation between men and

women. Murphy (2005) said that “modern invention has banished the spinning wheel, and the

same law of progress makes the woman of today a different woman from her grandmother”.

That is how modernization affects on women and change the way they behave.

Modernization indeed brings to women a better life with more rights, higher position, and

more chances to present themselves in many fields. However, modernity is just a basic step to

reach the success but the key is depended on their capabilities and efforts.

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References:

1. ‘Globalization& Modernity’ 2010, course notes for COMM2377 Modern Asia, Rmit University, Vietnam, viewed 10 April 2010, Blackboard@RMIT.

2. Drummond, LBW & Rydstrøm, H 2004, Gender practices in contemporary Vietnam,

Singapore University Press publications, viewed 15 April 2010, <http://www.google.com/books?hl=vi&lr=&id=Wy0foN4yENcC&oi=fnd&pg=PA47&dq=cong+dung+ngon+hanh&ots=3eZoJXdMk_&sig=_iqYNv8iZXHZeRdeShCg9U1R2fI#v=onepage&q=cong%20dung%20ngon%20hanh&f=false>.

3. Giddens, A 1991, Modernity and Self-Identity, 1st edn, Blackwell publisher, The US. 4. Gaonkar, DP 1999, ‘Public culture: On Alternative Modernities’, Western Journal of

management, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 1-12.

5. Clark, H 2010, ‘Do Vietnamese women really long to marry Chinese men?’, cnngo, viewed 12 May 2010, <http://www.cnngo.com/explorations/none/are-vietnamese-women-longing-marry-chinese-men-910547>.

6. Ha, TTH 2001, ‘Vietnamese Women and Leadership in the 20th Century: Prospects for Vietnamese Women Leaders in the 21st Century’, Philippine Journal of Third World Studies, vol. 16, no. 1, pp 1-5.

7. Murphy, ME 2005, ‘A Different Woman’s Purpose’, starresources, viewed 5 May

2010, <http://www.starresources.biz/customers/103091208052543/filemanager/A_Different_Woman_s_Purpose.pdf>

8. Nguyen, BT & Thomas, M 2004, ‘Young Women and Emergent Postsocialist

Sensibilities in Contemporary Vietnam’, Asian Journal of management, vol. 28, pp. 133–139.

9. Nguyen, LK 2002, ‘Vietnamese Family Today’, vietnamembassy-usa, viewed 10 May

2010, <http://www.vietnamembassy-usa.org/news/story.php?d=20020701005532>. 10. Stivens, M & Sen, K (2003), Gender and Power in Affluent Asia, 2nd edn, Routledge,

the US and Canada, viewed 25 April 2010, <http://www.google.com/books?hl=vi&lr=&id=sZJQsNymXNMC&oi=fnd&pg=PA222&ots=WBW2RxzWrS&sig=___qpUEPzd85XVNzjfDUUwxbMz8#v=onepage&q&f=false >.

11. Tran, H 2009, ‘Zones Women workers in Industial Zones’, tranhuyen, viewed 11 May

2010, < http://www.tranhuyen.info/2009/11/>.