“I know women are considered as those who should take care of the family and the housework, but in my family I am the one who brings the bread home. My husband waits for me there”.This is Thi speaking, a 23 years old Vietnamese girl. She has three children and lives with her family in a village surrounded by rice fields in Sa Pa, Northern Vietnam.
Thi guided me and other tourists around the fields for a 5-hour walking tour, and this is how I came across her story, the story of a mother who sustain her whole family to provide better education for her kids
During the walk, Thi asked us if we could stop for 10 minutes. Then, we saw a motorbike approaching us: it was her husband, carrying their 10-month old baby that Thi needed to breast-feed. Thi explained us that she started working with tourists when she was a child, selling bracelets or little bags she used to sew with her mum. That was when she learnt English, allowing her to be a guide for travellers in Sa Pa now. Unfortunately, her husband does not speak English and his only activity is agriculture, which is a seasonal work. On the contrary, as a guide, Thi can earn a good salary and pay for education, healthcare and provide food for the whole family.
She said that, there, in the villages, “after you finish primary school it is not so common to keep studying. You normally start working, you make a family and that’s all”. Nevertheless, she wants to give her children “a good education, so they can decide what they want to do in their life”.
According to the UN, Vietnam is one of the countries that most improved amongst the countries that made great improvements in promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Vietnam is among the countries that ratified the Convention for Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), while at the national level the country passed a Law on Gender Equality in 2006 and a Law on Domestic Violence Prevention and Control in 2007.
The United Nations have committed themselves to supporting the Vietnamese Government through the so-called One Strategic Plan 2017-2021. The Plan focuses on four areas: investing in people, ensuring climate resilience and environmental sustainability, fostering prosperity and partnership, and promoting justice, peace and inclusive governance. Gender equality is one of the ‘cross-cutting’ themes.
Regardless of formal and legislative steps, the country still faces difficulties in implementing and monitoring these commitments.
Indeed, according to the World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report of 2018, Vietnam still ranks 77 out of 149 countries, with a score of 0,698 (where 0 is complete imparity and 1 is complete parity). The report measures countries on four categories: economic participation and opportunity; educational attainment; health survival; and political empowerment. Among these four, Vietnam performed better in terms of economic participation and opportunity, classifying 33rd globally, with a score of 0,740.
Thi teaches us that governments should work harder on education because Education (SDG number 4) and Gender Equality (SDG number 5) are strictly linked. According to the UN, “based on data between 2000 and 2016 from about 90 countries, women spend roughly three times as many hours in unpaid domestic and care work as men”. This holds true for both developed and developing countries. Moreover, “Based on 2005–2016 data from 56 countries, 20 per cent of adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 who have ever been in a sexual relationship experienced physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner in the 12 months prior to the survey” (The Sustainable Development Goals Report, 2018).
Lack of education for women is the starting point of a vicious cycle that is reflected in lack of decision-making power, both within the household and in public life, lack of economic independence, violence and persistent gender inequality
As far as Vietnam is concerned, on 2015 the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam signed the Letter of Agreement with UNESCO, to detail a strategy for cooperation and implementation of the Gender Equality and Girls’ Education Initiative in Vietnam. The Initiative works for the enhancement of an enabling environment where legal rights to education of girls and women are implemented through gender mainstreaming in plans, leadership training and awareness raising.
Thi did not receive formal complete education, but she managed to learn English and this skill today gives her the possibility to “bring the bread at home”. How much could be done through the development of inclusive and gender responsive quality literacy programmes and high-quality education systems?
