The Vietnam Women's Union (, VWU) in Vietnamese, is a socio-political organization that represents and defends the legal and legitimate rights and interests of Women in Vietnam. Originally founded on October 20, 1930, there are currently over 13 million members belonging to 10,472 local women's unions in communes and towns throughout the country.(Smith and Newman, 2018) The current president, for the 2017-2022 term, is President Hà Thị Nga and Vice Presidents Bùi Thị Hòa, Trần Thị Hương, Hoàng Thị Ái Nhiên, and Đỗ Thị Thu Thảo. There have been leadership changes throughout this term however. Nguyễn Thị Thu Hà was the president until April 2020 before Hà Thị Nga became the president in May 2020. Nguyễn Thị Tuyết was a Vice President until February 2020. Đỗ Thị Thu Thảo was not named Vice President until July 2018.
The VWU strives for the advancement of women's development and gender equality, representing Vietnamese women to the state and counseling on the protection of women's rights. These policies include everything from childcare, education, community services, to health education. The VWU is the first and only women's organization in modern Vietnamese history,Drummond, L. (2004). The Modern Vietnamese Woman: Socialization and Women’s Magazines. In L. Drummond & H. Rydström (Eds.), Gender practices in contemporary Vietnam (pp. 158–179). Singapore: Singapore University Press. and is a member of the local organization the Vietnamese Fatherland Front, as well as active in international institutions like the Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF) and ASEAN Confederation of Women's Organizations (ACWO). Annually, the VWU provides nominees and recipients for the award "For the Cause of Women's Emancipation/For the Development of Women in Vietnam" which may be awarded to locals and foreigners who have made noticeable contributions to the advancement of women in Vietnam.
The establishment and growth of the VWU is dependent on the state government, as the overwhelming ideas of womanhood are combined in intertwined narratives. Both the National Party and the VWU worked to promote the “fairy-bird narrative” a blend of Marxist ideology and the idea of traditional Vietnamese womanhood,Chiricosta, A. (2010). Following the trail of the fairy-bird: The search for a uniquely Vietnamese Women’s Movement. In M. Roces & L. Edwards (Eds.), Women’s movements in Asia: Feminism and transnational activism. London: Routledge. to create the current gender ideals and social priorities of the VWU. Development of a Vietnamese Woman has been the purpose of the VWU's involvement in state policies and laws, with VWU's Statutes and Resolutions focusing on educated in national tradition, moral lifestyle and gender equality, as well as training on the prevention of social vices and methods to nurture happy families.
Current structure of the VWU
Currently, the Vietnam Women's Union is composed of four national levels, with elections held every five years:
The central level; Complete with one president and four vice presidents. The provincial/municipal and equivalent level (the called “provincial level”); Divided by Vietnamese provinces complete with one president and a supportive congress. The district/precinct/provincial capital and equivalent level (the called “district level”); Regional leaders and cadre leaders for each regional headquarters. The commune/ward and equivalent level (the called “grassroots level”). Commune and Cadre leaders for individual villages and cities.
The highest body of the Union is the National Women's Congress. The leading body of the Union at each level is the Congress of Delegates or the Plenary Congress of all members at that level. A more detailed organizational chart of the Vietnam Women's Union can be found on their website.
Announcement of the five year goals and campaigns for the VWU are announced after the elections, and again annually should there be any changes or additions to the planning systems of the union. This is why the public announcement of planning goals are often announced in the year following the elections.
History of the VWU’s “socialist femininity”
During French Colonialism to the Vietnam War
The idea of nationhood in Vietnam was popularized with women through the unity against a common enemy. By uniting against colonists—promoting the idea that the oppression of women was a necessary facet of colonial rule and that only with the overthrow of capitalist systems could women achieve equality, communists had immediate access to the social influences of women in Vietnam. Women were considered such a latent force in the Communist movement with the social unrest of women, who are generally considered to be the most exploited in all class structures and therefore more likely to support a restructuring of national rule. The Party's driving propaganda during the Vietnam War (1955-1975) was the idea that women's liberation was completely inseparable from a total social revolution. While the Party did have inefficiencies in the actual implementation of the revolutionary ideals for women in society, the party's plans for women's liberation were more driven by the ability to indoctrinate a large portion of the population to their revolutionary cause.
The Party with the help of the VWU in crafting explicit doctrines, effectively changed of traditional gendered institutions after taking power with laws establishing equal rights in politics, economic and social lives as well as equal pay and the protections of mother and child in domestic instances. The Vietnam Women's Union (VWU) was developed as a branch of the communist leadership that works for the promotion of gender equality but was originally created to bring women to support the communist revolution. This is emphasized in the official history of the Vietnam Women's Union in both their historical publications of mission statements and in present publications. The government ties currently held between the VWU and central government remain strong—with the promotion of “socialist nationalism” and the inherent image of a “true Vietnamese woman” and female nationalism, with the dichotomies between traditional values and national obligations as well as the depiction of women as key supporters for the ideas of “equality” “national modernity” and “national progress” in the establishment of new Vietnamese traditions. Considering the entwined nature of women and the party, the origin of feminine nationalism was built around creating Party support and ensuring a woman's place in the new social structure during and after the revolution. This is especially prevalent during the war period with the idea of a new modern national female—one who fought her oppressors and would even engage in combat for the good of the nation.
Modern conflicts in Vietnamese womanhood
The modern constraints on the concept of feminine nationalism is the change in national priorities for women in relation to social gender equality in religion, media, and political institutions. While purely Vietnamese nationalism is still prevalent in local events, the impact of capitalist systems is unavoidable in both national image and social institutions. Women are struggling to place themselves in the post-socialist society where being independent and embodying ideals of the war era—rejecting familial piety and choosing to fight for freedom and revolution—is now considered overtly masculine. In this time, the divergence between the national traditions emphasizing sacrifice and a Confucian sense of familial duty are both similar and incongruent, leading women to struggle to articulate themselves in the middle class.Ngo, T. N. B. (2004). The Confucian Four Feminine Virtues (tu duc). In L. Drummond & H. Rydström (Eds.), Gender practices in contemporary Vietnam (pp. 47–74). Singapore: Singapore University Press. Women are fighting a catch-22 situation in terms of nationalism and political participation. If women act with traditional values, it is seen as being feudalistic, un-nationalist, and a personal fault for refusing to modernize, but if independent the nation paints women as too western, anti-nationalist, and distinctly un-Vietnamese. Women who did not adequately personify the motions of Confucian femininity, filial piety, and national ideology were considered a shame to their family.
Much of the VWU's work has focused on the promotion of personal growth to transform and empower women in daily life, which would in turn direct the nation to reformation as an “equal and better society” after reunification. Unfortunately, these hard line feminine ideals of perfection were flawed in that women were constantly overwhelmed by the responsibilities of leading a family and a nation. The efficiency and effectiveness of the VWU is contested both in application and enforcement of priorities balancing modernity and female empowerment with traditional ideologies. Vietnam's enforcement of the Four Confucian Virtues of Femininity is one such example of how the government has continually enforced gender identity upon the women of Vietnam through the VWU while maintaining a stance on promotion of equal rights and emancipation.Drummond, L. (2004). The Modern Vietnamese Woman: Socialization and Women’s Magazines. In L. Drummond & H. Rydström (Eds.), Gender practices in contemporary Vietnam (pp. 158–179). Singapore: Singapore University Press. Multiple studies have focused on the legitimacy of national VWU data and the efficiency of grassroots implementation for health services through cadre implementation—all resulting in inconclusive data. And as the union was created by the state, for the state, the data and regional work may be contested. power of the VWU as well as the lasting effects of their organizational implementations. While the VWU is promoted as a government agent of change and the Party's flagbearer of gender equality, they are accused of propagating the same dichotomy and insistence for social constructs in their policy that causes the dichotomous and unattainable images of nationalist and feminine ideals. In a targeted study on the effects of VWU policies on the livelihoods and lasting social changes on rural Vietnamese women, the VWU can symbolize the greater intentions of the Party and government to treat women as a symbol of national progress, but their implementation lacks follow-through and efficient implementation.Gabi Waibel & Sarah Glück (2013) More than 13 million: mass mobilisation and gender politics in the Vietnam Women's Union, Gender & Development, 21:2, 343-361, DOI: 10.1080/13552074.2013.802148 As a state body, the necessity of the VWU working towards both the promotion of equality in government and maintaining the stance of a pro-government directly limits their efficiency of implementation and turns the body into a factory of propaganda—limiting the power to make lasting change in the nation as well as bringing the results of governmental evaluations of the body into question for validity.
Name changes