HAN University of Applied Sciences

Lauren, a Vietnamese individual, discusses their personal background, family, and beliefs. They mention the changing gender roles in Vietnamese society, with more women working and sharing household responsibilities. Legal reforms have been implemented to address gender inequality in the workplace. While women are well represented in the civil service, their leadership positions are often at lower levels compared to men. The Vietnamese Women Union is an organization connected to the feminist movement. Gender pay gaps exist in Vietnam, with women earning less than men, especially in higher skilled jobs. Lauren admires Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, a successful businesswoman. Overall, there have been improvements in gender equality in Vietnam, with more men staying at home and more women participating in business and politics. Hi, can you tell me your name, birth date, and birth city, country? Okay, hello, my name is Nguyen Hoang Phuong Nghi, and everybody calls me Lauren. I was born on the 1st of January 2005, and I was born in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Can you tell me more about your family, culture, religion? My family? I come from a four-people family, and I come from a very average family, and I don't have any religion. But I do believe in God, I do believe in the universe. Now we're going to talk about gender equality in your culture. So how are in your culture the gender roles separated in the average family? Well, back then it used to be consumed that men are not traditionally seen as responsible for making home clothes or taking care of the children. But the traditional role was making money, earning money, or we call it breadwinner. But nowadays, many women work, many women earn money, and have important roles in the society. And many families rely on a double income, too. So both parents now have to set a house course, and taking care of the children, and at the same time, they both have to go to work to earn money. Which role is leading, and what are borders the opposite gender should not cross? I think it's to be respectful, not to be disrespectful, and they should not, for men especially, not to be practical. Like, not to overreact, or, you know, think that they have the right to control the wives or children. So are there any legal reforms related to gender equality in Vietnam? Yeah, I just did a research on it, and Vietnam's new labor code, which was adopted in 2019, it aims to tackle the gender gap and adds the most comprehensive legal document for the work of work created in Vietnam. And it addresses the number of areas where inequalities currently exist, and it also ensures that Vietnamese women receive a fair reward for their contribution by tackling gender equality and workplace discrimination. Yeah, that's really interesting. Are women in Vietnam well represented in leadership positions, such as in government and business? Well, in government, the civil service has a large percentage of women, but their representation in leadership is more, and tends to be a lower level compared to men. And in business, I read somewhere about this research, like about 25 to 30% of business leaders in Vietnam are women. Like, it's pretty higher than average for Asia. Are any organizations in your country connected with the feminist movement? Well, there's one, we call it the VWU, which stands for Vietnamese Women Union. It's the first and only women's organization in Vietnamese history, and it's active in international institutions like the Women's International Diplomatic Federation, and something else, I don't remember. No problem. Are in your country jobs in that women are not equal pay with the men, and women are not accepted as workers? Oh, like, I think there's a survey that for jobs which require the same qualifications, every paid female worker is about 10% lower than men, and this gap is even more higher among higher skilled worker groups, and for the conventions of unskilled female workers, it's 8.1% lower than the male college. And I think the gap will be more higher if they require a bachelor's or master's degree. Can you share examples of successful women who have made a significant impact in Vietnam? Actually, this one is my favorite one, because this is my idol. She's a billionaire, and her name is Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao. She's a general director of Vietjet Air, the airline, and a vice chair of HD Bank, a really famous bank in Vietnam, and her estimated prosperity is about $2.8 billion, which is a lot in my dream, oh my god. What are some of the recent changes or improvements in gender equality in Vietnam? Well, for me personally, I think in Vietnam there are more men stay at home to look after their children, do their house chores, and some even quit their jobs to support their partner, and more and more women participate in business and politics fields, and the pay gap is starting to be minimized, which is really interesting for me to have a motivation to go back to Vietnam to work. Yeah, that's really good. Thank you for the interview.