Improving the Position of Ethnic Minority Women through the Policy of Credit Support for Poor Households: A Case Study of Northern Mountains of Vietnam45276

Improving the Position of Ethnic Minority Women through the Policy of Credit Support for Poor Households: A Case Study of Northern Mountains of Vietnam Dang Thi Hoa 1* , Bui Thi Huong

Improving the Position of Ethnic Minority Women through the Policy of Credit Support for Poor

Households: A Case Study of Northern Mountains of Vietnam

Dang Thi Hoa (1)* , Bui Thi Huong Tram (1) , Nguyen Danh Loi (2)

(1) VASS Institute for Family and Gender Studies, Hanoi, Vietnam

(2) Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, HCM city, Vietnam

* Correspondence: danghoa.ifgs69@gmail.com

Abstract: This paper reviews the barriers to ethnic minority women in the development and

effectiveness of the credit assistance package for women in poor ethnic minority households in northern region of Vietnam Based on data on poor ethnic minority household survey, covering 1,685 ethnic households of 4 provinces (Lang Son, Ha Giang, Dien Bien, and Thanh Hoa) in 2018, the analysis emphasized the usefulness of ethnic minority women's capital and the support of Women's Union to help members use loans effectively Since 2003, the Government of Vietnam has launched the solution in poverty reduction strategies and sustainable development in ethnic minority areas in the policy package to support loans for poor minorities Through the credit support package, ethnic minority women are more proactive in planning production and selling products, with higher incomes from household production activities Ethnic minority women have overcome many barriers

to take initiative in accessing to bank credit for household economic development The credit has been used for development of household economy and improving their position in the family and community, towards sustainable poverty reduction

Keywords: Poor household; credit support; gender equality; ethnic minorities; policy; sustainable

development

1 Introduction

Ensuring equality for women is one of the social development indicators towards the sustainable development of every nation and ethnicity in the world Discrimination against women through economic discrimination, inequality in education, health and participation in political activities are obstacles of development in countries nowadays Therefore, empowering women in the family, community and society is one of the important contents of the agendas to achieve the goals of the millennium In national development strategies, upholding women' position through empowerment of women in social communities which still preserve the remaining cultural values of gender inequality

is of great significance

The issue of discrimination and gender inequality still exists quite commonly in the context of a developing society, the ability to reach sustainable development goals is difficult

to achieve when the disparity in fender equality rights remains high between men and women, especially in developing countries Gender inequality is quite common in cultures around the world and becomes a constraining barrier to national development when there are no steps to improve it and to enhance the role of women in maintaining their families, integrating into the community Gender inequality from an economic perspective and

affirming the role of women in household economy are still posing a lot of problems in many cultures and in developed countries (Endalcachew, 2016) Women's empowerment and household economic development are closely linked together in the direction to reducing gender inequalities, and women's empowerment may be of great advantage for development (Duflo, 2012; Bradshaw et al., 2017)

Women's economic empowerment is one of the factors that achieve equality when economic disparities persist with a significant portion of women working unpaid, women suffering from too much work including both housework and income generating work, but

do not play a decisive role in the economy of the family Improving the status of women requires a new perspective in the plan to build a sustainable growth economy, enabling more women to enter the labor force and achieve decision-making positions, equally influential as men Women must also have employment and self-development opportunities to promote economic development

For developing countries, participation in the agricultural and forestry development job market combined with women's rights in household finances is of utmost importance In addition to women's participation, sharing among family members in both employment and decision making will foster the household economy, strengthening women's position in the family and community (Carol et al 2015) When empowered, rural women have access to family labor, control of resources, access to leadership positions or external communication, and proactively manage savings and credit, and their income would be improved (Galab and Rao 2003)

The Government of Vietnam has made great efforts to improve and promote women's participation in economic and social life activities One of the most effective promotion policies is to support loans for women in households, improve their capacity with literacy programs, awareness raising training and technology transfer, science and technology to enable women in ethnic minority and remote areas to participate more fully

in the job market and the economy (WB, 2016)

Vietnam has 53 ethnic minorities, regional diversity and ethnic cultural diversity has

an important influence on women's participation in the labor market and the economy Developing personal finance based on community supervision and assistance in poverty reduction can both exploit the efforts of households and promote the value of social capital and cultural capital of Vietnamese people (VASS, 2008: 14) One of the effective ways to reduce poverty in Vietnam is to support production for households through the preferential investment package for poor households from the social policy bank, especially for poor households of ethnic minorities Through socio-political organizations, including the Women's Union, women are given the rights to manage and autonomize loans and be responsible for planning activities, production project development, disbursement and supervision of implementation process to ensure that the safety of capital is rotated and developed in the community (CSCRAFC 2016; GSO, 2014; WB, 2012: 122) As a result, up to 80% of ethnic minority households have access to loans with low interest rates, infrastructure investments, and use of agricultural extension cash for households with land

and development of livestock husbandry (WB, 2012: 133,139; ADB and UN Women, 2018) However, whether ethnic minority households are rich or poor is depends on gender characteristics in the work division and the ability of women to speak national language in the household That is, when women take the initiative to overcome barriers and receive state policy support packages, they will know how to develop household economy and overcome poverty (GSO, 2015)

2 Methodology

To study the position of ethnic minority women through the policy of credit support for poor household, we use the field survey method with household survey in the form of descriptive statistics; in-depth interview and observation method in the field The analytical data source used in this article is from a field survey of a national topic on some of the basic issues of gender equality in ethnic minority areas by the Institute for Family and Gender Studies in 2018 and 2019 based on a survey of 1,685 household representatives of 7 ethnic minorities in 8 provinces representing the Northern Uplands including Dien Bien, Ha Giang, Lang Son and Thanh Hoa provinces The ethnic groups selected in the survey sample include: Tay, Thai, Nung, Muong, Hmong, Dao, and Khmu, representing ethnic groups under the patriarchal system mainly in mountainous provinces in North and North Central region

The household questionnaire was designed with the goal of assessing gender equality in Vietnam, including questions related to household borrowing and gender equality in the field of household economy The independent variables in the analysis of the paper include ethnicity, gender and type of household The dependent variables identified include living standards, loan needs, loan status, family decision-making power, and position in the family Quantitative data were analyzed and processed on SPSS 20.0 In-depth interviews and participatory observations were also used to find out the true position

of women through their stories in daily life, studying the attitudes and perceptions of ethnic minority women about their credit loan packages and the changes in their decision-making rights to family life and production

3 Results

3.1 Current position and obstacles of ethnic minority women in the household

Ethnic minorities in the Northern Uplands are very diversed in cultural identities Most of the ethnic minorities in the Northern Uplands are patriarchal with characteristics that promote the role of men in the family and society Paternalism is ingrained in not only men but also the acceptance of women Therefore, women of ethnic minorities in the North often have a weaker position than men in both family relationships and with the community and society

In the context where most of the ethnic minorities in Vietnam still rely on shifting cultivation and terraced fields, the main source of income is agricultural production with small-scale production, mainly growing food crops and short-day plants Up to 78% of

households have their income mainly from farming and raising cattle and poultry on a small scale Activities of commodity production have not yet been formed, but mainly production

of food crops and afforestation The standard of living for households is moderate and poor

Table 1: Living standard of households by ethnicity

Living standard***

N

Source: The 2018 Survey Note: Significant level: *** P<0.000

Comparing living standards among ethnic groups, some ethnic groups residing in lowland and delta areas have better living standards such as Tay, Thai and Muong with low poverty rate Ethnic groups residing in upland areas such as Hmong, Dao, and Khmu have lower living standards with the poverty rate accounting for over 50% of the households In particular, some ethnic groups have a very high rate of extremely poor households such as Kho mu, Thai, Hmong, etc

For ethnic minorities with a high proportion of poor households, women in these ethnic groups suffer from the double disadvantages of poverty, illiteracy, a high risk of food shortage and a high risk of illness (UNDP, 2014, UN Women and CEMA, 2015) Therefore, one

of the preferential policies in the poverty reduction policy of the Government of Vietnam is that women are given priority to borrow money from banks to develop farming and livestock husbandry in households In fact, women in the family are always the main labor, doing economic activities such as farming and raising animals but very little is allowed to participate in external social activities, little communication, and learning from training courses and technical science training (CIEM, 2009; Vietnam Government, 2017)

One of the significant barriers for ethnic minority women in the Northern Uplands

is that housing ownership is often for men According to the patrilineal system, the male inherits the property, so he owns the main property, mainly houses and land The right to inherit and own land to women is negligible Therefore, this is also a cultural feature that is

a significant obstacle to the development of ethnic minority women

Table 2: Houses and land ownership by gender

Both Other people

N

Source: The 2018 Survey Note: Significant level: *** P<0.000

So far, due to cultural, linguistic and geographical barriers, ethnic minority women have suffered quite a lot of disadvantages in development opportunities, especially access

to the achievements of social development process and renovation In the family, women are the main laborers but have little decision-making power and are always considered to

be disadvantaged in the family The decision-making power mainly rests with men both in business and production, buying and selling large assets, building houses or in relationships between families and relatives and the community

Table 3: Decision making rights in the family (%) Ethnicity Decision maker in

business and production***

Decision maker in house purchasing/selling/renovation

***

Decision maker in family and community relationship ***

N

Source: The 2018 Survey Note: Significant level: *** P<0.000

The results in Table 3 show that, women in the family have almost no rights to make decisions, including the main tasks they have to undertake such as cultivation, planting and livestock husbandry Meanwhile, men may only participate in a few stages of production but are the ones who have the main rights to decide in most family tasks There is a clear difference in some ethnic groups, for example in the Tay and Nung ethnic groups, the proportion of both husband and wife making decisions is quite high, showing the agreement and equality between husband and wife, while among the Dao, Kho mu, decision-making authority mainly belongs to the man in the family This shows that the

status of ethnic minority women in the family is very low, depending heavily on the decisions of men

Survey results show that patriarchal peoples of the Northern mountainous region still keep the traditional cultural habits, the wife only manages daily expenses and keeps money, the husband makes the main decision in economic planning, purchasing, house repairs or outside relationships such as attending training courses and technical training on agroforestry production The level of participation of wives is existing but not much, especially in economic planning activities of households

3.2 Empowering ethnic minority women in the household economy through loan support and poverty reduction policies

In order to implement the strategy of poverty reduction and sustainable development in ethnic minority areas, the Government of Vietnam has implemented a preferential policy to support poor households to get credit loans to develop household economy The Vietnamese Government has issued the Government's Decree No 78/2002/ND-CP of October 4, 2002 on credit for the poor and other policy beneficiaries The Social Policy Bank has worked closely with socio-political organizations at the grassroots level to bring social policy credit capital to communes, wards and townships throughout the country, loans to ethnic minority in deep-lying, remote, border areas and extremely difficult areas, etc

Up to now, the Social Policy Bank has been implementing credit programs and a number of credit projects to poor households, in which priority is given to poor and near-poor households, and especially near-poor ethnic minority households that have the needs and conditions to borrow capital, can borrow loans from Vietnam Bank for Social Policies (VBSP)

to invest in real estate, business, to improve life Particularly for ethnic minority households living in extremely difficult areas, the Policy Bank also implements credit programs for ethnic minority households in specific regions, conditions and specific subjects; favorable procedures with preferential loan rates

The Social Policy Bank has coordinated with the Women's Union at all levels to integrate loan packages with socio-economic development programs in each locality, such

as converting crops, livestock, vocational training, technology transfer, forestry extension All levels of the Women's Union through their membership network review and lend to the right beneficiaries, focusing on giving priority to poor ethnic minority women and policy beneficiaries in poor districts and using capital effective loans, and assign experienced staff

to supervise and support families to borrow, especially women use loans for the right purpose and timely support when there are risks happening

According to a report of the VBSP, Women's Union is one of four associations and unions that sign trust with the highest loan amount, with the highest number of ethnic minority women taking loans The access to loans with preferential interest rates of social policy bank has actively supported ethnic minority women to develop household economy Many models of household economic development based on women's knowledge about cultivation, husbandry and handicrafts have been promoted, which is a solid basis for

poverty reduction among ethnic minority households Nationwide, there are 1.4 million ethnic minority customers with a total loan balance of over 48 trillion dong, accounting for 24.8% of the social policy bank's outstanding loan amount The average loan per ethnic minority household is VND 33.3 million (compared to the national average of VND 29.7 million / household) The Women's Union has a total outstanding loan of over VND 60 trillion, accounting for 31% of the policy bank's debt with 3.2 million customers, of which

617 are ethnic minority women with a loan balance of VND 15 trillion VND (an average of VND 26 million / household) with 10,957 loan transaction points nationwide (Vietnam Policy Bank, 2019)

Along with small credit loans, ethnic minority women have more access to training

on science and technology and applications in production and diversification of agricultural products Through actual observation in field trip in ethnic minority communities, the percentage of women participating in community activities and training in science and technology has increased significantly (GSO, 2014) Micro-credit loans are very suitable for ethnic minority women Ethnic minority women have more clearly defined strategies for family economic development, changing their perceptions of rising themselves out of poverty

Since the preferential policies on lending to poor ethnic minority households do not require to mortgage assets, with very low preferential interest rates, many ethnic minority households have been applying for development investment loans for household production The status of ethnic minority womenin the families in Vietnam has changed dramatically since they were involved in programs to support household economic development When poor women have access to microfinance, they are empowered to bring into full play their economic capacity and to actively participate in family economic activities, increase labor productivity, increase their voice in the family and in the community (Mayoux and Linda, 2000)

The results of the 2012 survey on poor women who took out loans in poverty reduction in Ha Giang province show that the main decision maker for loans in the family

is the husband There is a difference in the rate of consensus between husband and wife who decides to borrow capital among ethnic groups, such as the Tay and Nung ethnic groups, the percentage of consensus between husband and wife is higher than that of Dao ethnic group

25.9

81.5

12.7

64.8

3.7

70.9

0

20

40

60

80

100

Figure 1: The rights to decide on a loan between husband and wife (Source: Institute of Ethnography, Survey results on credit support for household economic development in Ha Giang,

2012)

Compared to the most recent 2018 survey by the Institute for Family and Gender Studies, the right to make a loan has changed The wife's decision rate is higher and the rate

of consensus between husband and wife also increases

Figure 2: Principal borrower of household loan (Source: The 2018 Survey; Note: Significant level: *** P<0.000)

Figure 2 shows that, in many ethnic minorities, men are still the main decision makers of household loans Even in matriarchal ethnic groups such as the Ede, the Cham and the Khmer, men still have the main rights to decide on the family's borrowing and production activities Therefore, the voice of women has no weight when they have little decision-making power in the family, especially the decision-making power in loans, production activities and management of family expenses and assets

From that practice, in the process of implementing the policy for loans to poor ethnic minority households, the Women's Union has supervised lending procedures, instead of the husband who is the head of the household receiving borrowing capital on behalf of the household, the loan application must be agreed and signed by both husband and wife Even the Women's Union encourages women to boldly take out loans, with the consent of their husbands to develop production

Surveying the need for loans, ethnic minority women have seen significant changes when their individual loan needs change Instead of depending entirely on the male in the family, many women bravely apply for loans, invest in production activities, especially in the fields of cultivation and livestock husbandry Women are always the main persons responsible for these activities

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Figure 3: Demand for loan of ethnic minority men and women (Source: The 2018 Survey; Note: Significant level: *** P<0.000)

Figure 3 shows that, among some ethnic groups, women's loan demand is on par with that of men, especially among some ethnic groups residing in the valleys (Thai, Tay, and Nung) As for ethnic minorities living in upland areas with very high poverty rates, the demand for loans of women is much lower than that of men This shows the cultural barriers and many other factors such as ethnic minority women who are still illiterate, have less communication with outsiders, many ethnic minority women are not brave enough to take capital loan in banks, especially preferential packages of social policy banks

Table 4: Name of borrowers in the loan application ***

(Source: The 2018 Survey; Note: Significant level: *** P<0.000)

Field survey data shows that some ethnic groups have made significant changes when the proportion of wives in the name of bank loan procedures is equal to that of husbands (Muong, Tay, Thai, Ede, and Cham) Meanwhile, there are still many ethnic groups in which only husbands are named in the procedures for bank loans (Hmong, Dao, Khomu, and Nung) This difference also shows the process of changing the status of women

in different ethnic groups Ethnic groups with a higher proportion of women in the name of procedures for bank loans have a lower poverty rate than ethnic minorities in the name of men applying for bank loans (see comparison in table 1 and table 4) This result also shows that, when women have been proactively developing production plans and procedures for bank loans, their household economy has improved, and poverty has decreased

0

20

40

60

80

58.2

19.7

47.7

36.4

7.6

Compared to the 2012 survey, most households borrowed money to buy rice to address the problem of food shortages (29.4%), by 2018, households borrowed money to invest in production, mainly to buy buffaloes, cows, pigs and plant varieties to expand production

The loan amount from ethnic minority women is more than VND 30 million with a common term of 12 months to 24 months Particularly for some ethnic groups with high poverty rates such as Kho Mu and Hmong, the common loan amount is from VND 20 million to VND 30 million, mainly for investing in poultry and cattle raising For ethnic groups such as Tay, Nung, Muong, Thai, the loan amount is over VND 50 million to invest

in industrial crops, animal husbandry and aquaculture Many poor and near-poor households borrowed money in large amount to invest in production

Figure 4: Loan amount of poor and near poor households (Source: The 2018 Survey; Note: Significant level: *** P<0.000)

According to the regulation of the policy bank, the loan term is no more than 36 months, 0% interest rate with the principle of rotation in the community Each community established many loan groups with 5-10 women, each woman borrowed no more than 30 million VND in turn with the supervision of loan use of the whole women group The procedures for obtaining loans from the Women's Union are unsecured so it is very easy and convenient There are even places that agree to borrow money in advance, then return

it with agricultural products during the harvest season With flexible form, the loan is guaranteed to be mobilized to the maximum and there is no outstanding bad debt

Thanks to the flexibility of the social policy bank and the mandatory regulations when making loan procedures which require the consent of both spouses in the family, with the supervision and support of the Women's Union at the Credit facilities and activities of ethnic minority women, remarkable results have been seen for household economic development In case the loan is not used for the right purpose, the Women's Union can intervene and bind responsibilities of both husband and wife for the loan Many households have made profitable investments, gradually eradicating poverty and developing commodity economy The loan operation has gradually helped ethnic minority women to have more equal rights in their efforts to develop household economy

3.3 The position of ethnic minority women in the family has been improved

According to the survey results for Hmong ethnic women, if in the past, the business activities of the household were decided by the man and the husband, then now, the women

4.9

52.2

17.5

61.8

0

20

40

60

80

Poor households Near poor households