The Vietnam Women's Union and the Contradictions of a Socialist Gender Regime

Abstract

Vietnam’s transition from a centrally planned economy to a “socialist market economy under state guidance” since the late 1980s has provided women with unprecedented opportunities. Their increased mobility and economic power notwithstanding, Vietnamese women continue to be essentialised as mothers and carers in public discourse while their professional achievements and public lives are ostensibly de-emphasised. As the largest state institution tasked with representing women and advancing the Communist Party’s women-focussed social and political agendas, the Women’s Union plays a pivotal role in shaping the ideologies and values that serve to discipline women’s gendered behaviours and regulat..