Gender, empowerment and development gender relations from the perspective of ethnic minorities in vietnam

Several researches, the media, and the reports of development oftenpresent the images of EM women as the victims of inequality, of being undervalued, of having “a low status,” and theref

Institute of Social Studies, Economics and Environment

Pham Quynh Phuong

-Gender, Empowerment and Development

Gender relations from the perspective of ethnic

ADB Asian Development Bank

GE Gender Equality

MOLISA Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs

EM Ethnic Minorities

GAD Gender And Development

GDI Gender Development Index

IDRC International Development Research Centre of Canada

iSEE Institute for Social Studies, Economics and Environment

UN United Nations

NG National Goal

NGO Non-Governmental Organization

VWU Vietnam Women’s Union

UNESCO United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization

WID Women in Development

The author expresses her gratitude for the sincere contribution and hospitality ofpeople in EM communities that have been mentioned in the report Without theirhelp, this report certainly would not have been completed The author would alsolike to thank the field assistance from colleagues Hoang Cam, Le Kim Sa, NguyenQuang Thuong and Nguyen Thu Huong at different times and locations within iSEE’sresearch programs on ethnic stereotypes, the consequences of prejudice,surveillance evaluation for program 30A, and research on cacao trees In particular,the author acknowledges the valuable suggestions from Le Quang Binh and LuongMinh Ngoc to help complete this report

This report is the initial result of research on gender concepts in a number of ehnicminority groups in 2011, implemented by the Institute of Social Studies, Economicsand Environment, with funding from Danish International Development Agency(DANIDA)

Even though the author has put in great efforts to accomplish the researchobjectives, this report might still exhibit limitations and shortcomings The authorlooks forward to receiving your suggestions in order to improve further researches

in the future

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Chapter I RESEARCH BACKGROUND……… ………6

Introduction ……….6

Gender access and discourse on gender inequality in ethnic minority areas ……… 6

Analytical framework……… ……… 11

Areas and research methods……… 13

Chapter II PERSPECTIVES AND GENDER RELATIONS OF EM………16

1 Gender roles and division of labor ……….16

Perception on “Equality”……… 16

Labor distribution: women do many light chores, men do a few heavy works……… 19

Following natural and common sense………22

2 Accessing and increasing income……… ……… ……… 25

Income increase does not necessarily change positions ……… ………25

“A good husband gets to manage the money”…… 31

3 Participation and decision-making ……….33

Not attending meetings does not mean not having rights.……….33

Nobody makes decisions on his own… ……… 35

Administrative role does not reflect the actual role……… 36

Chapter III EMPOWERMENT FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF WOMEN’S SELF-DETERMINATION AND POSITION……….…38

The topic of self-determination: selecting and making decisions……….39

Status of EM women in traditional practices and contemporary society ……… 45

CONCLUSION………….………49

APPENDIX……… ……… ……….51

REFERENCES……….……… ……… 54

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY……… 56

Page

List of box titles

Box 1: The total population of related EM groups………14

Box 2: The population of EM groups in the inspected provinces……….14

Box 3: The perception of equality……… ……… 16

Box 4: Leaving wife the light chores (men’s point of view)………… ……… 19

Box 5: Husband does heavy works so less is fine (women’s point of view)………

… 21

Box 6: The standards for gender roles……… ……….22

Box 7: Overview of the Dao ethnic group…….………27

Box 8: The tradition of living at the wife’s house…… ……… 29

Box 9: Who manages the household’s expenses……… 31

Box 10: Not participating but still discussing……… 34

Box 11: Nobody makes decisions on his own ……….35

Box 12: Overview of the M’nong ethnic group……… ……….40

Box 13: The Lu people in Sin Ho……….……….………41

“empowerment,” “increased power,” “enhancing position” show the developers’

belief that if women are more involved and have better ability to access, they will be

able to reach equality and the burden will be lifted off their shoulders

Empowerment, therefore, has become a common term and also a measure of success

for a development program (CCIHP & Oxfam Novib 2011) This effort, however, isbased on outsiders’ assumptions as well as the existing analytical framework forrights and equality from the West (see Appendix)

From a development point of view, it is obvious that behind the genderapproaches and interventions, there are implications that women should beconsidered as the ones needing help to reduce poverty, they have no rights, nogender equality, no opportunities and no choices Helping the women out of poverty,generating and improving incomes, empowering, and putting a woman on the samelevel with her husband, as well as liberating her from all social constraints becomethe goals for gender equality issues This is demonstrated clearly in the discourse onpoverty and gender equality

Being aware of the limitations of imposed interpretation, many developmentorganizations see the need to understand the EM’s perception on gender inequality,then build programs that are more gender sensitive (CEMA và UNICEF 2009) Ourstudy aims to, through an anthropological approach, start discovering the EM’sperception on gender practice, as well as the criteria for empowerment and equalityfor women, and explain the cultural basis for these perspectives

Gender access and discourse on gender inequality in EM areas

Among social and cultural issues, gender and gender equality are two of the

most interesting topics even though “gender,” “gender approach” “feminism” arenew concepts that Vietnamese policy makers and researchers just started toapproach in the 80s of the last century From the theory which originated in the

West, based on the popularity and characteristics of society in Vietnam, after thirtyyears, the Gender studies in our country have had an extensive progress offormation and development, greatly influencing not only the views and policies ofthe Party and the State but also the entire social practices

Starting from the basic points of view: liberating women was one of the mostimportant objectives of the Vietnamese revolution, the right to gender equality wasaffirmed in the first Constitution in 1946, and also in 1980, Vietnam became the 6th

country in the world to sign the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms ofDiscrimination Against Women (CEDAW) Along with the promulgation of the legalsystem on family related to gender (Marriage and Family Law of 1959, 1986, 2000and the Law on the Prevention of Domestic Violence of 2007), the State haslegislated the Right to Gender Equality, and this law has officially taken effect since

2006.1 The National Committee for the Advancement of Women from State to locallevels has been established and consolidated by Decision 1855/QĐ-TTg(11/11/2009) The National Strategy on Gender Equality2 with specific programobjectives for each period of 5 years, 10 years, along with the clearly formed GenderDevelopment Index on State and local levels hold important roles in directingactivities towards gender equality practices For example, the National TargetProgramme for the period 2011-2015 mentions: creating strong shift in awareness,striving to significantly tighten the gender gap, improving the position of women in

a number of key sections and areas with an existing gender inequality problem orhigh risk of gender inequality Also in 2009, the Government implemented theregulations on presenting annual reports to National Assembly on the status ofexecuting the NG of gender equality.3 In conclusion, in recent years, the issue ofgender equality has been considered as a thoroughly understood content and goalunder the leadership of the Party, National Assembly’s legislation as well as thedirection of the Government structure

In the scientific aspect, there is a growing number of research and educationcenters on gender in our country The Vietnamese Government’s commitment to theinternational community towards the goal of Gender equality has attractedsignificant supports from international organizations, not only in terms of financialand technical means through projects, but also a whole system of modernknowledge and scientific analysis tools in gender approach.4

1 03 Decrees guiding the implementation of the Gender Equality Law was also launched in 2008 and

2009 (Decree No 70/2008/NĐ-CP (4/6/2008); Decree No 48/2009/NĐ-CP (19/5/2009); Decree

In the Political thesis of 1930, the first official document of the CommunistParty of Vietnam to discuss gender issues, gender was addressed from the

perspective of women’s liberation With the recognition that women were being

imprisoned by the “three cangues and stocks or chains, which were Confucianism,colonialism and patriarchalism” (VWU, 1989), the Party advocated to fight forliberating them from the oppression of the feudal society, bourgeois ideology andthe patriarchy system This point of view dominated a relatively long historicalperiod of the national liberation war and the country’s recovery after the war.During the Doi moi period, Vietnam begun to reach out to new gender approachmodels derived from the Western movements and theories of feminism, notably the

Women in Development (WID), and Gender and Development (GAD).5 These

approaches emphasize gender equality, poverty reduction, bring benefits to women, and empower them.

Gender equality and gender inequality in Vietnam are considered theuniversal problems, not related to religion and ethnicity, reflected in the fact that in

1981, the civil rights of ethnic minorities were included in the law, but until now,

there have not been any mention of decrees or laws specifically to gender issues inthe minority community Instead, there are only some indexes of percentage ofwomen in several areas of life In the recently published National GenderDevelopment Statistics Quota, all quotas calculated in numbers are combinedwithout analyzing specific problems of different ethnic groups.6

The approaches to gender issues in EM areas in Vietnam, however, areexhibited quite clearly through the discourse on gender inequality of ethnicminorities Several researches, the media, and the reports of development oftenpresent the images of EM women as the victims of inequality, of being undervalued,

of having “a low status,” and therefore, “if we cannot raise the inferior position ofwomen nowadays in the family and community, the objective of sustainable ruraldevelopment in our country will not succeed” (Dang Canh Khanh and Le Thi Quy

growing gender imbalance in Vietnam; Gender issues in migration (IOM) pointing out the differences

in the amount of money sent home by migrants, male and female, as well as measures to reduce the risk of money deposits, strengthen financial management information and improve remittance services to be more effective for migrants, increase access to finance for rural workers, especially

women; Tourism, gender and ethnic minorities (UNESCO) presenting opportunities and challenges

for sustainable development in the ethnic-diverse highlands, promoting the increase of cultural sensitivity and the awareness of decision makers and policy implementators of all levels, strengthening the voice and representation of the community, especially of women at a local level;

Project VIE/90/W01 (UNIFEM & Institute for Family and Gender): Approach in the study of responsive policies; Project Improving research ability on gender, aiming to a sustainable development

gender-(IDRC)

5 While WID puts the issues for women in a relatively isolated position, the GAD approach pays more attention to the social relationship between men and women, emphasizing the development model and the benefits of both sexes

6 The Quota system was issued on 14/10/2011, signed by the Prime Minister, with effect from 1/12/2011 There are 105 targets in this National Quota, but only one target (number 30) mentions the ethnic minority area (percentage of women in poor rural areas, EM groups have needs to borrow preferential loans from employment and poverty alleviation programs and formal sources of credit)

2007:464) Researches on gender in a deveopment point of view also reason

“minimal access to resourses, poor ability to generate income as well as no making voice in important aspects of family life lead to the women’s lower socialand economic status comparing to men’s (Do Thi Binh, 1996, Do Thi Binh and TranThi Van Anh 2003…) Follow is one specific study on this issue

decision-From one case study of gender relations in Son La and Lai Chau, researcherssuggest that gender inequality is tightly associated with underdevelopment: “inparallel with the underdevelopment of economic situation comes theunderdevelopment of society including gender inequality,” which exhibits through

“the unreasonable division of labor between men and women,” “women almostnever get to attend festivals or weddings and funerals in their mountain villages”(while the men “do nothing for the whole month but attending weddings andfunerals”), “the women are not allowed to join guests for a meal but have to eat inthe kitchen,” “victims of many forms of domestic violence…, are beaten and abused,”

“women are those who get more access to resources than men, but own less controlover these resources,” etc With the stereotypes on ethnic groups’ culture, theauthors believe that the policies on gender equality in Son La and Lai Chau meetmany difficulties because “there exists a greater barrier combined of a closedsubsistence economy and long preserved traditions” The ideology, according to theauthors, is due to the strong influence of Confucianism on EM groups, and “the level

of dependency of women relies on the level of development as well as the traditions

of each ethnic group,” therefore, “the social status of the H’Mong women is muchmore inferior than the status of the Thai women” (Dang Canh Khanh and Le Thi Quy,2007:435-439)

The discourse on development also identifies gender inequality as the keyissue for poverty and other problems of inequaly Over the last two decades, anumber of international organizations such as the World Bank, the United Nationsand other development organizations, etc emphasize the relationship between

gender inequality and poverty and violence The gender inequalities for women when

it comes down to opportunity, the right to express oneself, and the entitlement tomake decisions at home and in society are also considered as the reasonsexacerbating their poverty (Schech, Susanne and Vas Dev 2007).7 The World Bankreport even highlights the differences in property access, the capability and thevoice of EM women compared to their men’s along with the language and culturebarriers as main factors for the existing gender inequality situation in EM areasnowadays (WB 2009) The discourse on poverty by World Bank has established itsown fulcrum by presenting two main attributes of poor women: “voiceless” and

“powerless,” in addition to “vulnerability” (related to illness, material exhaustion,natural disaster, violence, etc.)

The report by the Poverty Alleviation Active Group of the Government,donors and NGOs (2000) emphasizes that the major problems of EM women include

“a heavy workload, limited right to make decisions in the family… domestic violence

7 IThe process of identifying poverty, according to WB, does not only rely on income, the amount of foods consumed, and the illiteration situation, but also the factors of vulnerability and powerless (WDR 2000/01).

stays at a high level while the ability to access education and knowledge continues

to be at a low level.” The document Review of World Situation (2002) by the United

Nations in Vietnam confirms that “EM women often suffer from the effects ofpoverty more than men because women do not have the right to decide, achievelower level of education, receive fewer opportunities, and all of these factors makethem the poorest of the poor.” Although even accounted for 13% of the population,the poverty rate among ethnic minorities is much greater than that of the Kinh andHoa people.8 The Analysis report of gender situation in Vietnam pays attention to the

issue of EM women and young girls lagging behind EM men in the fields of accessinghealth care services, education and economic opportunities (ADB 2006) The report

Analyzing National Society: Ethnicity and Development in Vietnam points out that:

“Cultural rules continue to put EM women in a secondary position in the communityand the women maintain to be disadvantaged in all areas, from accessing sources ofproduction and agriculture-stimulative services to health care and education” (WB2009:47) Examining gender from a tourism point of view, a recent study by

UNESCO (Tourism, gender and ethnic minorities) on the Dao, H’Mong and Giay

people in Sapa, confirms: “The signs of gender inequality among ethnic groups can

be seen in the continuous practice of wedding challenge, demonstrating the inferiorposition of women in the family and in the community, as well as the importance ofhaving sons.”

Being fully aware of the women’s “low status” and the gender inequality inthe EM community, in general, development programs have the tendency to create

equality for women by giving them the chance to participate, to receive the opportunity to access, and to improve incomes Reports by the Committee of Ethnic

Minorities, UN organizations, the World Bank (WB 2000/01, WB 2009) all show thatthe issue of gener inequality has been intergrated into development programs forthe purpose of removing and reducing poverty There have been hundreds oftraining sessions on spreading gender knowledge; hundreds of developmentprograms aiming for the goal of gender equality, or intergrating gender elements byboth Vietnamese and international NGOs (UNDP 2009) Over the years, theGovernment has invested heavily in EM areas through a lot of poverty reductionprograms (Care 2009), and some other programs such as 135, 30A with anintergrated gender interest. 9 Women Associations of all levels also have their ownprograms and activities (for instance, love and shelter program, etc.) in order toenhance the standard of living and the equality for women

In reality, many studies have observed that even when the woman makes aliving and provides the main source of contribution to the family’s economy(husband only makes as much as half of his wife), the women still do not achieve the

“gender equality” as understood in its conventional sense (Berk 1985, Unesco2010) The micro-credit programs or preferential loans for women do not make

8 According to the household living level census of 2008, the average poverty rate in EM groups is 49.8%, while for the Kinh and Hoa people, it’s 8.5% (Statistic Bureau, 2008).

9 CEMA, Guideline to integrate gender into Program 135.

them more powerful, but only increase the burden on women The study in Sa Paand Ky Son, Nghe An indicates that for the H’Mong women, selling goods is onlyconsidered as the “extension” of doing housework Interview at Sin Ho (Lai Chau)reveals that the Dao women, inspite of being the main income earners of thefamilies, are still regarded at a more inferior position than the men, and any incomeincrease will not change their position in the family

As a result, the discourse on gender inequality among ethnic minority groupsnowadays seems to present an one-way description and tragedize the position of

EM women: the women have an inferior status, they are the victims of domesticviolence and an irrational division of labor, they have no rights and cannot make anydecision, they only have a few opportunities to access and thus always sink inpoverty In other words, the women are seen as a group of disadvantaged,underpriviledged people who always need help Such descriptions, on the one hand,identify all EM women in a homogeneous and inactive category without portrayingall of their diverse, dynamic and self-determinable aspects On the other hand, theevaluation on the status of EM women are often based on the gender analysis lenswhich are heavily influenced by the point of view of outsiders (especiallyWesterners) on equality and human rights with a different value system instead ofdepriving from the perspective of the EM people themselves Therefore, thesolutions to change the current situation of gender inequality seem to be more thanjust an increase in income and economics Before developing appropriate strategiesand policies to the problem of gender inequality in EM areas, we need to set out toexplore the EM people’s own thoughts on gender relations in the context of ethnicculture

Analytical framework

This report utilizes an anthropological approach to the study of gender issues

in EM areas As an interdisciplinary science, anthropology studies the human natureand human society as a whole (holistic approach) According to the overall and

relative culture perspective, with the inside out and the bottom up approach,

anthropology will help to discover insider’s perspective and the interpretation of

some cultural practices The most fundamental method of anthropology is fieldwork with skills such as participant observation, listening to the people’s points of view, understanding the culture, their needs, their aspirations as they explain it instead of

using the perspective imposed from the outside Moreover, this approach does not

treat the people as passive beneficiaries of development programs but as active subjects fully capable of self-determination Using the gender analysis

anthropological approach, we want to utilize the EM people’s own stories andthoughts to discuss gender equality in three key principles: relative culture, thepeople are avtive subjects, and always using insiders’ perspective

Gender equality and empowerment are two tightly associated concepts On

the one hand, the meter that measures equality between men and women is based

on defining tools: who has the rights and what he/she can do, on the other hand, theempowerment efforts for women generate from the implications of inequality in

gender relations, women are at an inferior and powerless position comparing tomen

Empowerment is a concept that emerged from the 1970s, and has becomeespecially popular over the last two decades, but in reality, its comprehension has

changed During the 1970s, women’s empowerment involved Feminist movements

and organizations which were developed with a clear implication on promoting thestruggle for social justice and equality for women through the transformation ofpolitical, economic and social structures (Mosedale 2005) But by the 1990s, manydevelopment organizations had associated this concept with a series of

concentrated strategies in order to increase options for women at an individual level, in the context of State’s withdrawal from this responsibility to focus on greater

social and economic issues (Bisnath 2001, trích l i trong Misadale 2005:247) Oneại trong Misadale 2005:247) Oneexample was providing the micro-credit activity for women It brought manywomen the opportunity to access and control the money, however, there wasevidence showing that these women, in spite of being beneficiaries, were operatingwithout a full support network Therefore, instead of proving effective, according tosome evaluations, “empowerment strategy by development organizations onlymanaged to push the burden of maintaining a family and paying the household’sdebts on the woman’s shoulders” (Mayoux, 2002 (1), requoted in Misadale2005:248)

According to Oakley (2001:43), participation is the most important factor out

of the five frequently used aspects of empowerment in development study:

empowerment through participation, empowerment through democracy, empowerment through building capability, empowerment through increasing income, and empowerment through individuality Sara Hlupekile Longwe, an expert

on gender in Zambia, has developed Women’s Empowerment Framework (WEF).10

This framework implies that women’s poverty is a consequence of exploitation andoppression (rather than a lack of products), and that women can only reducepoverty by the method of empowerment This analytical framework sets out fivelevels to achieve equality (from low to high):

1 Equality in decision-making for production factors

2 Equality in participating in the decision-making process related to

management, planning and policy-making

3 Concensus perception of gender roles and division of labor by gender

4 Equality in accessing production factors

5 Equality in accessing benefits (food, income, health care).

Therefore, from the perspective of empowerment – which is considered to be the most useful mean of bringing gender equality, the evaluation criteria are usually divided into three issue groups: i) Gender roles and division of labor; ii) Accessing resources and increading income; iii) Participation and Decision-making This report, therefore, using the principles of anthropology to illuminate a number of

10 The interpretation of empowerment in development study is different from the interpretation in academic study Besides this framework, there are many other access frameworks on empowerment

evaluation criteria for empowerment:

* Gender roles and division of labor: In the gender analysises, this is

considered as a core element in the maintenance of gender inequality In thereport, we will analyze the EM people’s perspective and try to answerquestions such as: according to EM people (both men and women), what isgender equality? How is their conception of gender roles and gender norms?What problems in ethnic culture are exhibited through the issue of “who dowhat?”

* Assessing and increasing income: It is assumed that if women have the

ability to access and increase income, the control over money sources in thefamily as her husband, their position and “rights” will improve accordingly.What do the EM people think about this? Is there any evidence proving thatthere is a parallel relationship between poverty reduction and women’sempowerment?

* Participation and decision-making: Whether or not women are allowed

to participate and have the ability to make decisions are still considered asindicators of women’s status and gender equality Does this index reflect theperspectives of EM groups, or the EM people have their own interpretation?

By emphasizing the active subject role of research objects and insider’s voice, thisreport applies the following analysis framework model:

In addition to the three analysis aspects as mentioned above, through anumber of case studies, the report also presents an empowerment aspect from the

perspective of self-determination or self-entity (agency) for women Here the concept

of entitlement does not bear the meaning of legal rights, but holds the implication of social status, power và capability of the women in the specific context of ethnic culture Here, we support the view that women’s empowerment is a process in which

Positiv

e subject

Insiders’

perspectiv e

Diver sity Decision

-making and particip ation

Approa

ch and Income

Labor distribu tion

women define themselves and extend what makes them who they are, what they can

do in the stuations that they are limited comparing to men (Misadale 2005:252) In

other words, empowerment can be interpreted as “the women are in control of their

lives: by themselves, they establish daily practices, learn skills, build self-confidence,solve problems and gain self-control in life”(UNESCO Action Plan 2008-2013)

General description of areas and research methods

According to official figures, although accounted for only 13% of Vietnam’spopulation, the EM people are belong to 53 different ethnic groups, and in eachethnic group, there exist many sub-groups with diverse languages, culturalpractices, customs, religions, livelihood activities in association with the differentcontexts of natural environment and culture All ethnic groups are divided into thepatriarchy group (eg, Tay, Nung, Thai, Dao, H’Mong, etc.), matriarchy group (E de,Bana, M’nong, Cham Ninh Thuan, etc.) and duarchy group (eg, Xo-dang, Brau, Xtieng,etc.) with diverse gender relations With this diversity, we simply cannot makegeneralized conclusions about gender issues within the EM communities in Vietnam

With the approach of multi-sited ethnography, focusing on participantobservation and listening to insiders’ points of view, as well as learning about thehomogeneous and different relations between locations, we have conductedinterviews with many ethnic groups at different times during the year 2011 Thecommunities include: Muong people (Lang Chanh, Thanh Hoa), H’Mong people (KySon, Nghe An), White Thai and Black Thai people (Que Phong and Ky Son, Nghe An),Red Dao people (Cho Moi, Bac Kan), Dao Ten and Dao Khau people (Sin Ho, LaiChau), Kho-mu people (Ky Son, Nghe An), Lu people (Sin Ho, Lai Chau), and twomatriarchial groups of Raglay people (Bac Ai, Ninh Thuan) and Mnong people (Lakdistrict, Dak Lak) The examples presented in this report mainly derived fromstories of the Lu and Thai people in Sin Ho, the Dao people in Bac Kan, and theMnong R’lam in Dak Lak Some examples from other communities are also included

in this report when necessary We selected these survey ethnic groups because oftheir diversity in culture, customs and livelihood practices Some groups belong tothe largest groups of EM (such as the Thai people), while others belong to thesmallest groups (for example, the Lu ethnicity is one of the 15 smallest ethnicminority groups in Vietnam) Some groups incline to matriarchy (Mnong) whileothers follow the patriarchy tradition

According to the problem “interface” approach (not using “points” of

research), in the report, we do not have the ambition to continue further and explain thoroughly from the cultural perspective of each individual ethnic group, but only set

a goal to attain an objective overview of some aspects of gender relations among EM groups The research findings in this report, thus, are only a referential point of view

on several issues of gender relations through a number of research areas

Box 1: The total population of related EM groups (unit: person)

Ethnic

Thai 1,550,423 772,605 777,818 Kho-mu 72,926 36,515 36,414

Dao 751,067 377,185 373,882 Raglai 122,245 59,916 62,329

Source: Census of population and housing in 2009

Box 2: The population of EM groups in the inspected provinces (unit: person)

Ethnic group Province Populatio

n Ethnic group Province Populatio n

Source: Census of population and housing in 2009

Recognizing that the perspective on gender and gender relations need to beviewed from both sides, we decide to conduct interviews with both men and women

in community groups The interviewees are selected randomly from different agegroups (with the youngest being 17, the oldest being 65 years old) The mainresearch methods include semi-structured qualitative interviews, group discussions,and real life observation Each interview lasts from 1 to 2 hours with questionssurrounding the research problems We are interested in such problems as: Whatare the perceptions of EM men and women on gender equality, gender roles andgender standards? What are the problems for ethnic culture behind “genderinequality”? Is the position of EM women really as “inferior” as emphasized in manygender discources, and can that be treated as the basis for empowerment efforts? Isthe common approach on gender and gender inequality really relevant to the socialand cultural contexts of ethnic minorities? Without capturing the answers from EMpeople themselves on these issues, the general assessment of gender inequalityamong EM groups will only reflect the perspective of an outsider, with a referentialvalue system from the outside and men as the center, hence the prejudice.Development programs to empower or improve women’s status, therefore, will not

be able to achieve the desired effect

The interviews are usually carried out at the house in order to create themost comfortable atmosphere for the correspondents, and also to allow us toobserve the gender relations in their daily practices The deeper interviews wererecorded, removed from the tapes, and the correspondents’ names have beenchanged to ensure the principle of anonymity

CHAPTER 2

PERSPECTIVES AND GENDER RELATIONS OF EM

1 GENDER ROLES AND DIVISION OF LABOR

 The EM communities do not share the same concept of “equality” as the media and current law Instead, their perspective of an ideal family is “being together” and caring for each other

 To a family, figuring out “who does what” bears the meaning of sharing labor rather than distributing labor Their roles are carried out to support each other, while depending on each other; each person does the works that suit them the most The husband believes he takes over the responsibility of doing heavy

housework so that his wife only has to do the light chores As a result, the husband can do little but has to handle all of the big tasks, or the woman has to do many things but mostly light duties around the house, the women consider this as an obvious fact

 If there exists recognition of the women’s burden, then it is regarded as common sense, and the women feel that they should and need to follow in order to achieve the goal of a harmonious family.

mu, Mnong, Raglai), we usually come across such answer as not understanding, or

an explanation of the concept completely different from the implication of “genderequality” as mentioned in the law

Box 3: Perception on equality

…”Don’t know what equality is As husband and wife, we do everything together, discuss everything together” (Dao ethnicity, female, 41 years old, Nong Thinh commune, Cho Moi district)

11The GE law clarifies: “Gender equality means that the men and women both share an equal position

and role, they are both offered the conditions and opportunities to promote their full capacity for the development of the community and family while benefitting equally from the results of such development (Gender Equality Law 2006)

…”Equality? It’s that nowadays people from different ethnic groups can get married with each other” (Dao ethnicity, female, 47 years old, Nhu Co commune, Cho Moi district)

…“Equality means men and women are the same, work the same, if wife is busy then she asks husband to work together When husband brings guests back home, he asks the wife to prepare together, if it’s a full meal then guests, husband and wife all sit and eat together” (Lu ethnicity, female, 56 years old, female activist, Nam Tam, Sin Ho)

… “I’ve heard about equality, meaning we respect them then they respect us” (H’Mong ethnicity, male, 27 years old, Ta Ca commune, Ky Son district)

…Equality means that when having guests, both husband and wife sit down to eat and drink wine with guests (Black Thai ethnicity, female, 25 years old, Ma Quai commune, Sin Ho)

As an alternative, the EM people often mention the words caring for each other, working together, and sharing The caring for each other, the working together

and the sharing between husband and wife have seemed to become a standard ingender behavior, as well as the ideal family model in all the ethnic groups that wemet Therefore, when asking about the ideal husband and wife version in differentethnic groups, we receive very similar answers, that the wife (or husband) does notneed to be beautiful, does not have to be of a certain age, as long as he/she cares forhis/her partner, the husband does not drink too much (but still should know how todrink, because if he does not then he is considered “stupid” or “dull”12), he is gentle(to the wife), and know how to share the workload:

“We prefer to marry hard-working men rather than handsome, as long as they care for us, as long

as they help with everything we do Working at the rice fields then working at the slope fields… in general they need to care for us”

(Thai ethnicity, female, 18 years old, Cam village, Tri Le commune, Que Phong)

”On selecting a wife, I do not need the pretty, in general she has to be gentle, obedient, working, diligent, and helpful in supporting the family’s economics And if she’s beautiful but cannot talk to, cannot work with, does not help me at work, then it’s a pity…”

hard-(H’Mong ethnicity, male, 27 years old, Son Ha village, Ta Ca commune, Ky Son)

“A good wife has to be hard-working, dutiful to the parents, capable of weaving, and not wandering around the whole day A good husband does not drink alcohol, does not have a filthy mouth, is not lazy, and can do just about anything”

(Dao ethnicity, female, 75 years old, Khe Lac village, Nong Thinh commune, Cho Moi)

Accordingly, to the EM people, “equality” – a quite alien word to the concept

of their values – does not necessarily imply that husband and wife have equal rights

to make decisions or gain benefits, but is interpreted as both people working hardand sharing the workload In other words, for women, the part of “being together” ismore meaningful than “the right to make decision” and “the right to gain benefits.”

In order to explain why “being together” is so significant to the EM people, it has to

be placed in the livelihood context of the ethnic people

12 According to group discussion with Dao women, Cho Moi, Bac Kan

Most people from EM groups reside in the mountainous areas Eachcommunity group usually ranges from a few dozen to a few hundred of households.Even though many ethnic groups live together in a region or a town, within thescope of a village, people are often from the same ethnic group, and in many cases,

they are from the same family clan In a way, they live closely together in a social network, in which each individual is an intersection People in the community are

brought together by the livelihood activities (with a mutual-help procedure,assisting one another by rotation), cultural and religious activities, which are oftenset by rules and regulations Dry-crop livelihood activities in the mountainous areas

as well as paddy-field plantation activities by some lowland resident groups are allassociated with nature, plants and heavily dependent on the weather Both dry-cropactivities and paddy-field cultivation contain heavy works (hoeing up the ground,cutting branches, tilling in the field…) and tedious tasks (pricking holes in theground, transplanting rice seedlings, plucking up weeds…), and also requireconcentrated labor energy towards the end of the crop (the harvest season) Forexample, having to change wasteland into cultivated areas and guiding water fromthe stream to the field altogether, several Lu families in Sin Ho with adjacent fieldsoften dig a shared ditch and conduct an annual dredging together Such cohesion for

a common interest makes people become more interdependent They always help

one another in a fair position: everyone trades their own labor efforts to help one

another in agriculture, because nobody can manage all the workload himself(harvesting rice, harvesting coffee, harvesting tea leaves, etc.) Livelihood to doagriculture forces them to depend on one another and stick together to survive Inthe family, husband and wife rely on each other in productional relationship and

daily activities, and in the community, every household volunteers to trade labor,

helping one another in such rotation method has led relationships within thecommunity become closer If there is something going on at one family, the wholevillage has to come, so that when it is their turn, the other families will come to help(such as assisting at weddings and lifting coffin at funerals; one individual familygenerally does not have enough people to manage) Building a house also requiresmuch help from a few dozen people in the village (not for hire) and then the familyhas to prepare a big meal with rice wine as a treat to show gratitude

The Kho-mu people at Tri Le commune (Que Phong, Nghe An) building a house

The majority of the ethnic groups that we interviewed has a history offarming and/or settlement (either spontaneously or following the State’s policies)and is often closely associated with their clans Difficult livelihood conditions,limited land and forest for livelihood, a lack of capital for production, etc., all thesefactors have forced the communities to unite closely and rely on one another tosurvive Such attachment helps them to share and develop, to gather indigenousknowledge as well as experiences in labor and production The settlement historyfactor, along with the prejudice that other ethnic groups label on them also make the

EM people develop the psychology of living closely together The relationships arealways in a continuous circle that cannot be broken They are connected together bythe contexts of culture, society, migration and livelihood, while exhibiting the EMpeople’s psychology of always being in due fair, their efforts to avoid debts, to avoidowning a meal In such tendency to stick together and help one another to survive,the interaction between women and men in the family is a two-way interaction, aninterdependence, the men will assume all works labeled “heavy” and “big,” while thewomen do things that are considered “light” and “tedious.” Of course, the definition

of heavy or light works depends on the perception of gender standards in eachcommunity

Labor distribution: women do many light chores, men do a few heavy works

In some EM groups, such as the Lu or Raglai people, they often do notdistinguish between a man’s jobs or a woman’s jobs There are two main aspects inthe perception of community groups regarding gender roles On the one hand, it is

the expectation in working together With works that anyone can do, there is no

transparent division, if one person is free then he/she can help the other (sowingrice seeds, transplanting rice seedlings, harvesting…), and with heavier workloadthen the men often arrange time to on their own (farming, sawing wood…)

“…My wife and I are pretty much the same, generally we are exactly similar For labor tasks, if she goes to work or does not do it then I’ll do it, if she does it then I’ll go to work, generally we both work Cooking, washing dishes, working in the fields…”

(Raglay ethnicity, male, 31 years old, Bac Ai district, Ninh Thuan)

On the other hand, EM people do not conceive the issue of “who does what”

in the family as a “division of labor” that we often mention For them, it is as simple

as each person does one thing, whoever does something better from theirexperience should stick with it, since women are physically weaker, they should do

housework (“women cannot even lift an ax”), and therefore, they should stay at home

rather than going in search of work somewhere else; men are stronger so they can

do heavy work, big/important jobs As a result, deriving from this point of view, EMmen often leave the women the light jobs (doing “housework” and “owning a smallbusiness” are consider light jobs):

Box 4: Leaving wife the light chores (men’s point of view)

…”The husband has to do big works, heavy works, such as harvesting during this season, harvesting and doing heavy jobs are for the husband, the wife stays at home so she prepares meals and cleans the house, that’s all The women shouldn’t be doing heavy works or big jobs because they are

women, the health is not guaranteed…”

(Lu ethnicity, male, 29 years old, Pau village, Nam Tam commune, Sin Ho)

…”Here the men do more, as the wife is slightly weaker, it means the man has to do more The man has to carry the firewoods home If the pile is small then his wife can carry it, if it’s big then he has to carry it home, when arriving at home, we have to do housework together, do not relax until after dinner If there’s a movie on TV then we watch it, if not then it’s okay My wife pampers me sometimes, she takes care of me, or when I get a little bit drunk then she asks where you went, why you drank, next time don’t drink too much, just drink a little Seeing that I’m drunk means that my wife still cares for me But if there is work then she will complain I can only drink when there’s no work…”

(Kho-mu ethnicity, male, 41 years old, Binh Son 1 village, Ta Ca commune, Ky Son district)

…”The light works such as trading small goods, and doing housework are for the wife, bigger jobs are for the husband Working in the field is for husband, tilling the mountain slope field is for husband But for transplanting the seedlings, it’s the wife’s job And for heavy farming and stuff, husband has to do more because that’s the big job Because here, in the mountains, because of the special terrain that big machines cannot be brought in, we can only use buffalos for plowing, and women cannot work the buffalo cart, so men have to… And there are small tasks such as I go into the forest to pick up natural fruits, then my wife bring them to the market to sell Or while working in the slope field I plant some mustard greens, then my wife bring them to the market to sell, we men don’t do such things…”

(H’Mong ethnicity, male, 27 years old, Son Ha village, Ta Ca commune, Ky Son district)

…”Generally in the house, the light chores are for women, the slightly heavier stuffs are for men Light chores such as washing dishes For cooking we help each other Getting home from work, everybody is tired, but if I just sit there for my wife to cook then it’s not okay, we have to help each other When my wife cooks dinner, I go to get water from the well Washing laundry is for the wife, but if the wife doesn’t do it then the husband can do it, the husband will do the wife’s laundry too…”

(Kho-mu ethnicity, male, 45 years old, Ta Ca commune, Ky Son district)

Light chores and heavy works are usually placed in specific relationships.Compared to the production outside of the home, housework is much lighter, butcompared to making good money, working in the fields is “lighter.” In onediscussion, a group of Muong women in Thanh Hoa does not seem to accept themen’s explainations, therefore they complain about the men in the village being very

“lazy” (“there are no sight of men working in the fields at all”) The women sharethat in the past, men from their village did often go to work in the field, but recentlythey have all become unreasonable, saying that men working in the field are

“inferior,” so none of the young men wants to work in the fields anymore:

”Men said that transplanting rice seedlings is the work for women, they only want to do the big stuffs, to make big money, for example, working in the forest, sawing woods, sawing timbers and selling them for big money, so that is best left for women to do at home ”

“…The Muong women work harder, everything comes down to our hands Transplanting rice seedlings is for women, harvesting is also for women… But men handle hard works and earn money In the morning, the men sharpen their knives to prepare for chopping bamboo, finding woods, chopping down acacia trees, working for other families, men are in charge of all heavy works During the harvest month, men have to carry the rice back home in the afternoon…”

(group discussion with Muong women, Giao An commune, Lang Chanh district)

In other ethnic groups such as Thai, H’Mong, Dao, Lu, Mnong, Kho-mu, Raglai,

we all get to listen to their opinions on different works for men and women in thesense of figuring out reasonable labor division Men from EM groups are all defined

to do “the big stuffs,” “the slightly heavy works” such as chopping down trees,clearing the fields for cultivation, plowing the fields, digging ponds, sawing timbersfor building house, carrying big stacks of fireworks, working the buffalo cart, sellingbuffalos and cows, socializing with others… Women do “light chores,” “small tasks,”such as growing pigs, growing chickens, picking up firewoods, picking weeds fromvegetable fields, bean fields, mustard green fields, selling vegetables, etc Since thelivelihood circumstance in the mountainous areas requires more “heavy works,”many EM groups prefer to have sons so that they can use more labors for the family(in addition to maintaining the family names and worshipping) For the Lu and Thaicommunities in Nam Tam commune and Mai Quai commune in Sin Ho, Lai Chau,having a son to work in the fields and to live with during old age is very important

As a result, it is not rare to find cases of “buying a son” if all of the children aregirls.13 And when there are no sons in the family, the woman’s parents woulddesperate to get a son-in-law who can live with the woman’s family for the rest ofhis life Even for the matriarchial groups, such as the Mnong people, even though it

13 The price for a child depends on his age; the older the child is, the more expensive he is going to be

as the biological parents must have put a lot of efforts into raising him As a common practice, the children that are bought into the family generally are accepted by the whole community, this is considered normal and the child does not suffer from prejudice or pressure The child grows up considering his foster family as his biological family, and usually does not try to go back to his biological parents’ house.

is required to have a daughter to take care of old age (“because your son is actually other people’s son”), but according to Y Plen, for the Mnong people in Lak, “everyone

loves to have a son, because the son would become the main labor for the family.”

For women, labor is shared according to each person’s ability, one should dowhat he/she does best As a result, since the women cannot do heavy works andsuch responsibilities belong to the man, it is only reasonable and fair if the men donot do as much:

Box 5: Husband does heavy works so less is fine (women’s point of view)

…”The husband does not have to do much because he already does all the heavy stuffs For example, why do we have to build house, to carry woods? Such heavy jobs are more suitable for our husbands, and even heavier jobs, such as farming in the slop field, carry big things, our

husbands will carry all I just have to cook and wait, or grind rice, or dry rice, or pick vegetables When gathering firewoods, both husband and wife would go… Sometimes when the husband wakes up late, sometimes not until I finish cooking Sometimes my husband wakes up earlier, if I have too many chores to do then he will help carry water home so that I can shower the kids…”

(H’Mong ethnicity, female, 25 years old, Dong hamlet, Tay Son commune, Ky Son)

…”Women have to do more work, but the men do “bigger” works, so it’s all the same”

(Thai ethnicity, female, 38 years old, Tan Thanh hamlet, Tan Phuc commune, Lang Chanh district)

…”The husband works for other people, the wife stays at home with the children If the wife leaves then who is going to take care of the children, the husband is not as good as the wife And for housework it’s all the same, husband and wife both have to work together, everyone is the same If it’s the heavy task then the husband does more, if it’s light chore then it’s the wife’s turn Heavy tasks are something that the women cannot do then better leave it to the men If it’s not too hard then both men and women do it… As for hardship, the husband is worn-out, the wife is worn out the same… Working in the slope field together Going together, coming back together.”

(Kho-mu ethnicity, female, 56 years old, Binh Son 1 village, Ta Ca commune, Ky Son district)

…”The girls make scarves, make dresses, so many dresses, wash dishes, feed the chickens, pick vegetables, grow pigs, pick firewoods, pick vegetables, do laundry The boys often do the main jobs, such as working at the field, plowing the field, in the evening, they go fishing, casting net, hunting…”

(Lu ethnicity, female, 24 years old, Mai Quai commune, Sin Ho)

As a result, the perception of “heavy” work and “light” work, “main” job and

“petty” job has determined the division of labor in the household The men are

conscious that they are leaving all the light chores to his wife while they take over the burden of hard works in the family As for the women, even though they would

hope their husbands could share more of the housework in the family as theyrealize they have too many things to do, they still consider it to be fair.14 Thus, in

14 However, by living closely together, women of different ethnic groups often make comparison for the men’s ability to work hard, for example, the Thai women in Sin Ho think that their Thai men are

reality, rather than believing that the division of labor has shed the burden on thewomen’s shoulders, from the point of view of EM people, the issue of “who doeswhat” originates from the perspective of helping each other out (within thestandard of being together), whoever is stronger does the heavier tasks, andwhoever does something better stays in charge of it The roles of different familymembers are interdependent; one person’s role will help the other accomplish

other roles Division of labor in this circumstance does not originate from the perception of gender rights, but it is associated with a common goal of maintaining life and co-existing

Following natural and common sense

Gender standards are established by the social traditions in the community,

and then expand from specific contexts They are popular values and behaviors,

accepted by the community and thus become the powerful conventions forbehavioral and cultural practices of both men and women Therefore, gender

standards play an important role in maintaining social order, have the ability to

control and limit the behaviors of both men and women Gender standards areexpressed at many levels, from the family to the neighborhood, to the villagecommunity, and also the society

Some of the women we met fully recognize the hardship for women (“womenkeep working, working, working”) because despite the fact that housework is quitesimple, it repeats day after day, the women are busy from early morning to late atnight, but the traditional perception on gender standards still dominates theirbehaviors People in each community all believe that if they do not follow thetraditional practices – the gender standards that have been developed andpreserved over so many generations – it will be such a shame, and they will not berespected by the community Like women, the men are expected to follow gender

standards, they need to do heavy works instead of petty chores For example, a young H’Mong man in Ky Son claims that it is a shame to sell little things such as

vegetables or fruits, but when it comes to selling buffalos, it is then something thatthe man has to do, because if he lets his wife sell their buffalos, it will be equallyembarrassing for them The Dao men from two communities in Khe Lac and LangDao in Cho Moi district (Bac Kan) all share a common perception of leaving thewomen to do small tasks such as planting tea trees, growing rice, while they handlethe big responsibilities such as chopping down bamboos, building wooden products

The Lu people in Sin Ho has a folk song that goes: “the men knit fishing nets, the women weave clothing” as the men’s responsibilities include knowing how to travel

along the river and catch fish, while the women need to know how to weave fabrics.Men from Mnong ethnic group are in charge of more hard works, but the women arestill expected to partivipate in all activities of agricultural production (crops andlivestock) For craft jobs, the women are the main labor in the weaving business

not as diligent as the Lu men, or the Dao women’s union official from Ta Phin, Sin Ho believe that the H’Mong women are luckier as the relationship between a H’Mong husband and wife is very close, something that the Dao people do not have

while men practice carpentry, operate metal workshop, and weave products fromrattan and bamboo In the exploitation of natural resources, the men go hunting,fishing, while the women are mainly fruit gatherers A Thai woman in Nghe Anshares:

…Here the women weave clothing, the men do work outside, in the field Women have to work in the slope field, for the men, if he is hard-working then he will help, if not then he will pass Older women often sell vegetables at the market We don’t go because we are embarrassed… We often try to find cassava to make wine and then sell for money…

(White Thai ethnicity, female, 18 years old, Cam village, Tri Le commune,

Que Phong district)

Box 6: The standards for gender roles

“I also struggle but that’s what women do; we shall be laughed at if we are lazy… In the evening, even if I’m very tired, if my husband wants me to wash his feet then I would… But if he’s not nice

to me then I will ignore him If I leave my husband to do housework then our neighbor would say why you are doing this instead of your wife Then I would feel ashamed too as they say why the wife is so lazy, making the husband do everything.”

(H’Mong, female, 25 years old, Ky Son)

“Lazy women are those who only stay at home, cook and feed the pigs and chickens, working women are those who go to pick firewoods since early in the morning…”

(Lu ethnicity, female, 53 years old, Nam Tam commune, Sin Ho)

“Those women who do not work on the field are lazy, staying at home and selling stuff is lazy…” (Kho-mu ethnicity, male, 37 years old, Ky Son) “Men do not do petty tasks”

(Lu ethnicity, female, 53 years old, Nam Tam, Sin Ho)

“It’s embarrassing for men to sell little things, but selling cattle is okay Moreover, men only want

to finish the stock quickly so that they can go home so sometimes they sell for really cheap, but the women only sell for the right price as she works very hard on this, thus she can stay at the market for a long time Therefore, I only drive my wife to the market to sell our own fruits, and pick her up when it’s time to go home…”

(H’Mong ethnicity, male, Ta Ca commune, Ky Son)

“Men can do plowing, but transplanting rice seedlings is too embarrassing”

(Muong ethnicity, male, 45 years old, Lang Chanh)

“We often say that it’s better to be a man, then we say ‘it’s our own fault for being women’ and ‘if there is a next life then I would try to be a man’, but the guys say that ‘it’s better to be women because men always have to do heavy tasks such as building house, plowing, making weaving loom…”

(Thai ethnicity, female, 17 years old, Cam village, Tri Le commune, Que Phong district)

A Thai woman by the weaving loom (Que Phong, Nghe An)

Each ethnic group has its own criteria on the expectations for women, forexample, the ability to weave fabrics for Thai or Lu women, the ability to embroiderfor H’Mong and Dao women In the Lu ethnic group’s opinion, once a person diesand returns to the Earth, that person has to be enshrouded in the special cloth that awoman from the family has woven As a result, the Lu women are required to knowand master the art of weaving If a woman does not know how to weave and applyrelated techniques (coloring, threading), she will be laughed at by villagers and find

it difficult to get married In the naming ceremony for girls, the Lu people oftenbring a shuttle to put on the protective goddess’ table, in hope that the baby willbecome hard working and skillful in weaving fabrics Therefore, at a very young age,little girls are taught the techniques of weaving, pulling, spinning, dyeing (with themost common color being indigo) The hands of H’Mong women are always busywith embroidery From an early age, the girls are taught to embroider As a youngH’Mong explains:

“Embroidery is an ordinary work for the H’Mong people It is the traditional characteristics of H’Mong women for thousands of years; they start embroidering since 6-7 years old and continue until they reach old age They continue to embroider as they do it partly for themselves, partly for their daughters who will use this as their dowry when getting married, or for their relatives The H’Mong women do not see it as hard work as they just want to have the most beautiful dress.”

Therefore, the works that outsiders might consider too tough or unfair forwomen could be perceived by the insiders as the essential daily tasks of life Even ifthe women sense the hardship in their life, they would still follow the framework oftraditional practices in order to achieve harmony in the family In case there is nolabor division, they still have the tendency to avoid breaking the ideal model of thecommunity, which they have been deeply influenced since early childhood

A Kinh women’s union official in Ky Son, Nghe An shares that during her oneyear living in a H’Mong village as part of her duty, she felt frustrated as the H’Mongwomen worked too hard, yet they did not feel miserable at all:

“During the day she clears the field with her husband, and their family, but in the evening, she always has to boil water and wash her husband’s feet, she can only start doing her own work once the husband is in bed But they never complain, they do not feel miserable, to them this

is just the ancient tradition, they are still satisfied with their work, they are happy with their work… They do not understand the concept of equality, they just feel that this is what their mothers’ job, their mothers also do this, their daughters also do this, their daughters-in-law also do this, they are consent with what their parents leave them, they are satisfied with the ongoing traditions…”

Such orservations from outsiders motivate the local women’s union staffs tofeel the need to “conduct trainings in order to change the women’s perception,” and

therefore “We (the agency) work so hard in the trainings, now we implement so many classes of equality, so many classes of women liberation also, we have been very determined, very open-minded, for right now, they start to be more conscious, but it is still very difficult.”

The “inequality” sometimes is just simple faith that they heard about ratherthan the reality observation nowadays, or a feeling influenced by outsiders’perspective Many ethnic groups share with us that the H’Mong women have toendure much hardship, and always “have to eat in the kitchen,” “when there areguests coming, they have to stick around and serve their husbands’ guests instead ofhaving the meal with them.” Observation on a group of H’Mong people in Ky Sonshows that the women also have an equivalent position compared to theirhusbands The several family meals that we witnessed during random visits to theH’Mong family reveal a picture of the whole family and their guests sitting aroundthe table and sharing an intimate meal The strong bond between the husband andwife from the H’Mong ethnic group also makes other ethnic groups feel envious

On the other hand, some of the customs, which seem to be unfavorable forwomen, turn out to provide them with more opportunities For instance, the Lupeople in Nam Tam maintain a seemingly disadvantageous tradition for women Thecustom requires the new bride, when arriving at the groom’s house after thewedding, to carry water home and cook for all of the groom’s relatives Asrecounted, in the past, the bride had to go all the way to the stream to get water,then carry the water home and cook for each family in the clan, she only got to gohome once everything had been completed Nowadays, with water tank installed ineach household, the bride does not have to go far to carry the water, yet she still has

to cook for each member family and only gets to go home after completing thesetasks In return, each family will give the new bride a certain item, usually a chicken.From the ethnic culture perspective, this is actually a form of custom to get the newbride to become acquainted with the relative community from the groom’s side,consequently building the essential social network for her life from then on.Moreover, from an economic perspective, the gifts that the bride receives from eachfamily after prepare a meal for them also contribute to help this young couple build

a new life together

As a result, the interpretation of the EM people themselves on their culturalfactors needs to be considered The authors of the assessment study Rural

Development Project in Son La, Lai Chau remark: “We have collected many materials

which reflect the gender inequality situation in the area from the people and authority, but the surprising part is that we seem to be unable to obtain any recommendations from them to improve the situation…” (Dang Canh Khanh and Le

Thi Quy, 2006:464) The confusion that researchers feel may have reflected the factthat the EM people like to follow “natural and common sense,” and the genderstandard that has absorbed into the minds of so many generations From a humanright perspective, agreeing with such traditional norms sometimes can bringdisadvantageousness to women, and cannot be considered as a defending reason forall the unfair treatments towards women However, understanding the mindset andrespecting the insiders’ culture are crucial to the success of the intervention policies

or gender equality

2 ASSESSING RESOURCES AND INCREASING INCOME

 There is no evidences showing the relationship between poverty reduction and women’s empowerment

 If the woman’s income and work are considered to be small, or just a minor thing compared to other members of the family (for example, working and producing at home), then the income does not play a role in changing her position There are even cases in which the woman makes more money than her husband, leading to conflicts and disagreements within the family, making the woman even more inferior

 The ability to access production resources and manage the economics in the family

is not compatible to the rights and status of women

Income increase does not necessarily change positions

The structural perspective on gender confirms that the difference in genderarises from the difference in resources that men and women hold in their society.This approach explains that women have to do more housework in order to match

up with their husbands’ income (the men do less housework because they earn ahigher income, thus they have more power in the family) However, researchersfrom all over the world and in Vietnam show that the inequality in housework laborpersists despite the possibility that the wife contributes half of the income (Berk

1985, UNESCO 2010) or even becomes more serious when the wife makes moremoney than her husband (Bittman et al 2003; Brines 1994; Mannino and Deutsch2005) We can point out a few cases in our survey

Ms Tam, Red Dao ethnicity (Min Mien) in Nong Thinh commune, Cho Moidistrict, Bac Kan province is one of the only two people in the village still makingtraditional clothes, mainly for orders from other places (to be dressed in royalhonor ceremonies) She works hard everyday from morning to night and is the mainincome earner in the family, while “her husband spends the whole day drinking

alcohol.” When asked, she share that even though she earns more money than herhusband, her husband still “feels normal.”

Ms Thu is also from the Red Dao ethnicity but living in another commune –Yen Dinh commune Besides working on the field and in the slope field, planting teatrees is the main source of income for her family and many other families in thevillage Before 2000, planting tea trees was mainly organized by the co-operative.After that, with a source of tea seeds from the State, many families start to invest incultivation According to her and her husband, each month they pick about 2batches of tea leaves, each month they harvest about 70 kilograms With the currentmarket price of 50,000d/kg, each year, her family earns an income of a few dozenmillion from the cultivation of tea alone Ms Thu’s husband recalls:

“She does both planting tea trees and farming on her own For planting tea trees, we need to rake the ground and she does that all by herself All our kids are off to school I work in carpentry My carpentry income only ranges from 2 to 3 millions dong, but it is not regular Some months I don’t even have work Not during the hot season, it’s only steady during winter months like this, I cannot keep up during this time of the year People hire me to build all kinds of thing, for the ceiling, for the door I have to saw timbers, then chisel, build house I often have to travel for my job, I visit so many places, sometimes all the way to Thai Nguyen, sometimes to the township, quite a few places Sometimes when I don’t have so many things

to do, usually like 1 or 2 times, I help her with planting tea trees As for the meals, anyone can do…”

Ms Tam and Ms Thu, like many other Dao women living in Bac Kan15 and Sin

Ho, are very nimble and diligent in economic business In many areas, the Daowomen are very active in economic activities, excellent in trading goods, such asbrocade, footwear, and embroidery clothes The Dao men earn money mainly fromworking as hired labor, and a lot of men depend on their wives’ stable income The income from Ms Tam’s sewing business and Ms Thu’s tea cultivation ishiger and more stable than the income of their husbands, however, this – asperceived by insiders – does not change their position within the family Eventhough they are not looked down on or treated badly, for them, the relationshipbetween the husband and the wife is not different from before, being the mainincome earners of the family does not necessarily mean the husbands will becomemore “respectful” of them The men’s more respectful attitude towards their wives

is recognized, but according to the Dao women, it generates from the change in theirperception, “the more they travel, the more they know.”

Box 7: Overview of the Dao ethnic group

Like many other ethnic minorities, the Dao people in Vietnam are also divided into many groups, known as Coc Mun, Coc Ngang, Diu Mien, Kim Mien, Dai Ban, Kim Mun, Lo Giang, Quan

sub-15 According to the 2009 census, in Bac Kan, there are 51,801 people from Dao ethnicity, accounting for 17.6% of the province’s population

Chet, Quan Trang, Thanh Y, Tieu Ban, etc Each sub-group is distinguished by their cultural characteristics, mainly the women’s outfits, such as the Red Dao, Dao Quan Chet, Dao Thanh Phan, Dao Tien, Dao White Pants, Dao Thanh Y, etc The Dao people initially come from Chinese origin, migrated to Vietnam in different periods, via different means and in different groups The Dao people often circulate the story of Ban Ho, which discusses their backgrounds

According to the census of 2009, the population of the Dao ethnicity in Vietnam was 751,067 The traditional residential areas of the Dao in Vietnam are mostly in the northern mountainous provinces such as Hoa Binh, Cao Bang, Bac Kan, Lang Son, Son La, Lai Chau, Yen Bai, Ha Giang, Lao Cai and Dien Bien The Dao people reside in the highlands, as well as the middle and low areas, but mostly in the middle regions The Dao people often live in individual village, which consists of many different clans Each village has its own sorcerer, who plays a significant role in the spiritual and religious life of the community, especially in the royal honor ceremonies, weddings, funerals, Ban Vuong worship ceremonies, Tet ceremonies…

According to Cheo Thi Hong, a Dao Khau official in Sin Ho, the Dao womenare very hard-working and even often make more money than the husbands, but

“are not as respected by their husbands as the H’Mong women”: “They can keep the money that they earn, if the husbands ask for it, they will still give it to them, but for property and possession, they will “never get to touch.”

Similar to the group of Dao women, the women from Thai and Muongethnicity are also very active in working and earning extra income The Thai women

in Que Phong can make very fine wine, and thus engage in trading and exchangingwith other ethnic groups, such as selling wine to the H’Mong people A young

woman from Tri Le commune, Que Phong district explains: “The Thai women really know how to make money, for example after finishing their works at home, they go and work for other places, or make wine to sell It’s always the Thai women who make wine for sale, the men only know how to drink.” Also in some families, the husband

gives his wife respectation for working and earning an income, but in many otherfamilies, the wife’s income does not receive the same appreciation as her husband’searning job In Lang Chanh (Thanh Hoa), there are 10,738 households, of which 57%are poor;16 the women believe that they have too little land to produce During theirfree time, they have to work as hired labor planting Acacia trees for other commune,with a wage of 60,000d/day Being able to get a special loan for women of 5 milliondong for two years (without interest), the couple discuss together, whether theyshould use the money to buy cattle, or to buy production land (in the village, thereare many families who own large area of production land but have to transfer asthey do not have enough labor) With the support of Program 30A, people prefer tosupport breeding stocks but it has to be “the kind of animal that does not cost toomuch.” In a group meeting in Tan Thanh, the women want to be supported withcattle, for the reason that the men can take care of buffalos and cows, but for pigsand ducks, it not only is expensive but also requires so much work from the women

In some families, the income of the woman is higher than that of her husband,however, as the Muong women share, “the men are so lazy” and never appreciate his

16 Data retrieved from the district People’s Commitee, provided on 11/8/2011 (following the poverty criteria of 2011)

wife’s income There are even cases in which the fact that the woman makes moremoney than her husband leads to conflicts and disagreements in the family, makingthe women become even more vulnerable

The ability to access finance and improve income for EM women, which doesnot necessarily empower them in the family, can be interpreted from a number ofcultural reasons Here we will analyze more closely the case of the Dao people

First of all, from the perspective of a traditional culture, the Dao people value

the men much more than the women (prioritizing to send the sons to school),married women do not get a share of her biological family’s possessions (not eventhe dowry), the women are expected to give birth to boys; married women areundervalued as all the assests in the family belong to the husband, and in the future

to her sons; a woman’s virginity is still considered important (if she gets knocked upthen the parents will be so ashamed); women have to do more work, and at thesame time, she is the main income earner of the family

“In the past the Dao women were not respected by their husbands, even when the Dao women were the main earner economically, but they were dependent on their husbands’ families on property, housing, those were what mattered…” (Dao ethnicity, female, 32 years old, Cho Moi)

“The girl does not bring anything along, just a few sets of outfit her family has prepared for her as dowry Because she does not bring anything with her, she arrives at her husband’s house with two empty hands, that’s why they do not respect the women, that’s why the women have to work very hard to make a living.”

(Dao ethnicity, female, 38 years old, Sin Ho)

Dowry and wedding challenge are traditional customs of the EM people The

stories of the Thai people (Nghe An and Thanh Hoa), the Lu people (Sin Ho) and the

Dao people (Bac Kan) all demonstrate that the wedding challenge by the bride’s family and the dowry that the bride brings to her husband’s house are both parts of

a cycle of fair exchange The bride’s family gets to set the wedding challenges tomake up for the compensation of money matters and the parents’ efforts to raise her

up Some ethnic groups evaluate the wedding challenge set by the bride’s family tojudge the value of the bride On the other hand, other communities consider that ahigh wedding challenge shows that the parents do not care for their daughter In the

Lu communities in Nam Tam commune and Mai Quai commune (Sin Ho) The bride’sfamily asks for foods as wedding challenges (wine, meat, rice…) or buffalos, cows.Before the wedding, the groom’s family has to prepare outfits for the bride and thebride’s family (as told, sometimes they have to prepare hundreds of outfits),whereas the bride has to start making blankets and bed sheets for a long time tobring to the husband’s family In the wedding, the groom’s parents give the bride notonly a dress but also a necklace During the wedding, both families have to kill pigs

to celebrate, the bride’s family kills a small on, the groom’s family kills a bigger one

In fact, the mutual relationship between the two families holds the nature ofexchanging, both affection and economic goods

For the Dao ethnic group, as the story goes, the girls often do not get dowry

to bring to the husband’s family, therefore they do not receive respect from thefamily, even though they have to work so hard High wedding challenge and thematrilocal custom can be a burden for the women when arriving at the husband’shouse Some Red Dao families in Khe Lac hamlet, Nong Thinh commune and LangDao hamlet, Yen Dinh commune, Cho Moi district, Bac Kan province, share that theparents nowadays do not want to set high wedding challenge because they lovetheir daughter, they do not want her to arrive at the groom’s family with a big debt

to repay by her own labor According to Ms Cheo Thi Hong, when the bride’s familysets a high wedding challenge, the groom’s family will be forced to borrow money,therefore, after the wedding, the bride will have to assume the responsibility andstart doing more work For the Dao Ten people, due to the custom of high weddingchallenge, the women always have to work to “pay the debt” to her husband’s familyafter the wedding The higher the wedding challenge that the bride’s family asks for,the more hardship the bride will suffer from working to “return to” her husband’sfamily On the other hand, if the groom’s family does not have enough money to payfor the wedding challenge then the groom will have to live with the bride’s family

…The matrilocal custom still values the women more This is the ancient custom that the Kho-mu people in the past left us From what I understand, both men and women should be equal, we should not value the women more… Both sides should be equal, support each other, unite and love each other, and especially try to understand and emphathize with each other…

(Kho-mu ethnicity, male, official, 38 years old, Ky Son, Nghe An)

In the memory of some of the husbands who have experienced living with thein-law-families due to their inability of paying for the bride’s family (accounting forthe majority of the Lu, Thai, Dao people that we met), their matrilocal period is atough and miserable time of their life They have to wake up early, go to the field,work on the slope field, and do many other things yet they still worry about gettingscolded by the women’s parents This can be considered as the period to challenge aman’s ability to assume the responsibility for his new family under the teaching ofher parents

Box 8: The tradition of living at the wife’s house

”After the wedding I had to live at my wife’s family for 4 years Thought I was going to die It was so tough My wife’s parents even yelled at me, I wanted to die If I had to turn back time, I’d rather let them take the two buffalos than living with the wife’s family again.”

(Lu ethnicity, male, 60 years old, Pau village, Nam Tam commune, Sin Ho)

“I had to live with my wife’s family for 8 years until I could move out.”

(Dao ethnicity, male, 39 years old, Vang Bon village, Ma Quai commune, Sin Ho)

“In the past I chose for myself, got married to whoever I liked, if I didn’t like then I wouldn’t get

married I met my husband in the village on my own… In the past the bride’s family did not have to lose anything, but the groom’s family, so many things, they lost their money, their pigs, their cows, their rice, even their wine The men had to live in the bride’s house then, they only had the wedding until he made enough money.”

(Kho-mu ethnicity, female, 56 years old, Binh Son 1 village, Ta Ca commune, Ky Son district)