The role of women in Vietnam was subject to changes throughout the history of Vietnam. They have taken on varying roles in society, and the country has seen a number of advances in women's rights, such as an increase in female representation in government, and the creation of the Vietnam Women's Union in 1930.
The role of women in warfare and outside the home continued to increase throughout the 20th century, especially during the Indochina Wars. During and after the Vietnam War, the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam made efforts to increase women's rights, equity, and representation in government. This included the creation of job quotas during the 1960s, which required that women occupy a certain percentage of jobs in different sectors. Women's rights have continued to increase later, and women have increasingly held leadership positions. Vietnam has one of the highest female labour-force participation rates in the world and ranked the second most women in senior management among Asian countries.
As of 2025, two women have served as President of Vietnam (on an interim basis): Võ Thị Ánh Xuân (2023) and Đặng Thị Ngọc Thịnh (2018), with the seat of Vice President of Vietnam has been assigned to a woman as an uncodified tradition since 1992. Additionally, Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân was elected as Chairwoman of the National Assembly of Vietnam in 2016 while Trương Thị Mai became the first female Executive Secretary of the Communist Party in 2023.
Dynasties
Before and during Chinese rule According to William S. Turley, "the role of women in traditional Vietnamese culture was determined [partly] by ... indigenous customs bearing traces of matriarchy",Turley, William S., Women in the Communist Revolution in Vietnam, in Asian Survey, vol. 12, no. 9, September, 1972, p. 793 n. 1 (DOI 10.2307/2642829) (author asst. prof. gov't, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale), in JStor, as accessed December 29, 2013 (database). affecting "different social classes" to "varying degrees". According to Chiricosta, the legend of Âu Cơ is said to be evidence of "the presence of an original 'matriarchy' in North Vietnam and [it] led to the double kinship system, which developed there ... [and which] combined matrilineal and patrilineal patterns of family structure and assigned equal importance to both lines."Chiricosta, Alessandra, Following the Trail of the Fairy-Bird: The Search For a Uniquely Vietnamese Women's Movement, in Roces, Mina, & Louise P. Edwards, eds., Women's Movements in Asia, op. cit., p. 125 and see p. 126 (single quotation marks so in original).
In 111 BC, Chinese armies conquered the kingdom of Nanyue and tried to integrate it into the Han Empire. During this time, Confucianism was the official ideology, the Chinese language was primarily spoken, and the Chinese occupation had influence on literature and art creations. There was resistance to the Chinese rule. According to Peter C. Phan, that "the first three persons leading insurrections against China were women ... that ancient Vietnam was a matriarchal society"Phan, Peter C., Vietnamese-American Catholics (New York or Mahwah, New Jersey: Paulist Press, 2005 ()), p. 12 and see pp. 13 & 32 (author prof. Catholic social thought, Georgetown Univ.) (the "three persons" apparently being the sisters Trung Trac and Trung Nhi in A.D. 40, per p. 12, & Trieu Au in A.D. 248, per p. 13). and "the ancient Vietnamese family system was most likely matriarchal, with women ruling over the clan or tribe"Phan, Peter C., Vietnamese-American Catholics, op. cit., p. 32. until the Vietnamese the patriarchal system introduced by the Chinese", although "this patriarchal system ... was not able to dislodge the Vietnamese women from their relatively high position in the family and society, especially among the peasants and the lower classes", with modern "culture and legal codes ... [promoting more] rights and privileges" for women than in Chinese culture.Phan, Peter C., Vietnamese-American Catholics, op. cit., p. 33.
Chiricosta said that other scholars relied on "this 'matriarchal' aspect of the myth to differentiate Vietnamese society from the pervasive spread of Chinese Confucian patriarchy"Roces, Mina, & Louise P. Edwards, eds., Women's Movements in Asia, op. cit., p. 125 and see p. 125 n. 2 (single quotation marks so in original). and that "resistance to China's colonization of Vietnam ... [combined with] the view that Vietnam was originally a matriarchy ... [led to viewing] women's struggles for liberation from (Chinese) patriarchy as a metaphor for the entire nation's struggle for Vietnamese independence."Roces, Mina, & Louise P. Edwards, eds., Women's Movements in Asia, op. cit., p. 125 (parentheses so in original). According to Karen G. Turner, in the 3rd century AD, Lady Triệu to personify the matriarchal culture that mitigated Confucianized patriarchal norms .... [although] she is also painted as something of a freak ... with her ... savage, violent streak."Turner, Karen G., "Vietnam" as a Women's War, in Young, Marilyn B., & Robert Buzzanco, eds., A Companion to the Vietnam War (Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell, hardback 2002 ()), pp. 95–96 but see p. 107 (author Turner prof. history, Holy Cross College, & sr. research fellow, East Asian legal studies, Harvard Law School). A female military leader who managed, for a time, to successfully resist the Chinese state of Eastern Wu during its occupation of Vietnam, she is quoted as saying, "I'd like to ride storms, kill sharks in the open sea, drive out the aggressors, reconquer the country, undo the ties of serfdom, and never bend my back to be the concubine of whatever man.":vi:Nguyễn Khắc Viện (1913–1997), Vietnam, a long history, The Gioi Publishers, reprinted 2002, p. 22.Helle Rydstrøm -Embodying Morality: Growing Up in Rural Northern Vietnam - Page 179 2003 "Among the Chinese, Trieu Thi Trinh was portrayed as a monster with three-meter long breasts and riding an elephant .."
When the enemy is at the gate, the woman goes out fighting. has been recited as evidence of women's stature. (Giặc đến nhà đàn bà phải đánh) - an old Vietnamese adage. The quote is "giặc đến nhà, đàn bà cũng đánh" in Vietnamese and the quote actually means that fighting in war is inappropriate for women and its only when the situation is so desperate that the war has spread to their home then women should enter the war.
Trưng sisters
In 40 AD, the Trưng Sisters Trưng Trắc and Trưng Nhị led a rebellion to get rid of Tô Định, the Chinese governor occupying Vietnam. They were daughters of a Lạc lord in Giao Chỉ (later is Northern Vietnam) and widows of aristocrats. They successfully formed their own kingdom in Mê Linh, where Trưng Trắc was proclaimed queen, and a capital was built for her". While ruling in Mê Linh, the sisters abolished taxes, which had been especially cruel under Tô Định. They were defeated in 43 AD by Ma Yuan, a Chinese general, and are regarded as female military heroes and national heroines.
According to Donald M. Seekins, an indication of "the strength of matriarchal values"Seekins, Donald M., "Trung Sisters, Rebellion of (39–43)", in Sandler, Stanley, ed., Ground Warfare: An International Encyclopedia (Santa Barbara California: ABC-Clio, hardcover 2002 ()), vol. 3, p. 898, col. 1 (author of Seekins of Meio University). was that a woman, Trưng Trắc, with her younger sister Trưng Nhị, raised an army of "over 80,000 soldiers .... [in which] many of her officers were women", with which they defeated the Chinese. According to Keith Weller Taylor, "the matriarchal flavor of the time is ... attested by the fact that Trưng Trắc's mother's tomb and spirit temple have survived, although nothing remains of her father",Taylor, Keith Weller, The Birth of Vietnam (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983 ()), p. 39 (n. 176 omitted). and the "society of the Trung sisters" was "strongly matrilineal".Both quotations: Taylor, Keith Weller, The Birth of Vietnam, op. cit., p. 338. On the other hand, even though the Trưng sisters are remembered for their military skills and bravery, they have also been used to confirm women's societal role in a different manner. Some historians have focused on their physical beauty and emphasized their devotion to family as well as Trưng Trắc's romantic relationship with her husband, Lạc lord Thi Sach. As an iconic symbol of Vietnamese patriotism, they were used to show how weak Vietnamese men are even in comparison to Vietnamese women, as the Vietnamese men under Tô Định "bowed their heads, folded their arms, and served the northerners; how shameful is this in comparison with the two Trung sisters, who were women!"Ngô Sï Liên, Dai Viet sir ky toàn thw, 3, lb. Cited in The Birth of Vietnam by Keith Weiler Taylor (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983), p. 334.
After Ma Yuan's defeat of the Trưng sisters, the Chinese maintained domination over Vietnam for more than a thousand years. They established a bureaucracy that emphasized Confucianism, and they focused on educating Vietnam's ruling class with Chinese literature and ideas. Chinese rule ended in 939 AD when the Vietnamese army, under the direction of Ngô Quyền, defeated the Chinese army, which was already troubled by chaos within China."Vietnam History, People, Economy, Geography, Government." N.p., n.d. Web. 30 April 2014. The Lý dynasty was established in 1010, and ruled until 1225. The Ly dynasty continued some of the political, social, and economic institutions that were imposed by the country's former Chinese rulers. For example, only males of the noble class could attend school and become members of the civil service. The Vietnamese continued to fight against Chinese influence, and in 1407 the country was once again under Chinese Rule. They re-won independence in 1428, when the Vietnamese Lê dynasty was created.
Champa Champa king Po Rome was Cru and had a Malay wife, a Vietnamese wife, a Rade wife and Cham Awal wife. His Vietnamese wife was Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Khoa (阮福玉誇), daughter of Nguyễn Lord Nguyễn Phúc Nguyên. He was so into his sexual relations with her that he had Champa's sacred Kraik tree chopped down to cure her of illness. This enabled the Vietnamese to defeat the Cham, leading to his suicide after the Vietnamese held him in a metal cage when the Vietnamese army defeated the Chams due to the destruction of the Kraik tree leading Champa's power to be sapped.
The Cambodian King Chey Chettha II married the Vietnamese Nguyễn lord Princess Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Vạn, a daughter of Lord Nguyễn Phúc Nguyên, in 1618.Mai Thục, Vương miện lưu đày: truyện lịch sử, Nhà xuất bản Văn hóa - thông tin, 2004, p.580; Giáo sư Hoàng Xuân Việt, Nguyễn Minh Tiến hiệu đính, Tìm hiểu lịch sử chữ quốc ngữ, Ho Chi Minh City, Công ty Văn hóa Hương Trang, pp.31-33; Helen Jarvis, Cambodia, Clio Press, 1997, p.xxiii. In return, the king granted the Vietnamese the right to establish settlements in Mô Xoài (later is Bà Rịa), in the region of Prey Nokor—which they colloquially referred to as Sài Gòn, and which later became Ho Chi Minh City.
Lê and Nguyễn dynasties From the 1400s onward, the ruling Lê and its successor Nguyễn dynasties further imposed the Confucian family model on Vietnamese society. Women's rights were restricted and were relegated to just as properties, subservient to the male husbands, female historical figures were minimized or rebuked. There were some examples of successful women winning through social class mobility during this period because the Confucianism and collectivism in Vietnam were not that strict and rigid as compared with other countries such as China and Japan.
Cong Huyen Ton Nu Nha Trang, a later Vietnamese researcher based in Berkeley, precised in her 1973 doctoral thesis that "how Confucian morality and a parallel Vietnamese moral order trapped women under the yoke of oppression."
French rule