Sociologist explains burden of ‘traditional values’ on women

01/07/2009
As Vietnam celebrates Family Day today, a sociologist says deep-seated traditional values pushed women away from thriving both personally and professionally.




Little headway has been made to improve the social status of women, despite the fact that many of them are their family’s breadwinners, said Khuat Thu Hong, head of the Institute for Social Development Studies.

 

The sharing of housework duties has remained unequal between husbands and wives with the burden still slanted heavily towards the latter, Hong said, citing several recent studies conducted by the institute.

 

Many women have missed out o­n professional promotion opportunities due to the overwhelming amount of time and effort they must put into housework, Hong said. In rural areas, some women work for up to 18 hours per day, according to studies she cited.

 

The time men spent o­n housework was less than o­ne third of the time women spent doing chores, Hong said.

 

But what really worried Hong was the way society perceives household duties.

 

Men are praised if they do housework, but people just take it for granted that women do it, Hong said.

 

“This is irrational and unjust,” she said.

 

She said it is time people changed their perceptions about traditional and modern values and the roles of women.

 

“Is it necessary to preserve traditional values by taking it for granted that women always sacrifice for their families?” Hong said.

 

Hong cited an example in which the traditional significance of the family meal is lost o­nce women are left alone to do all the cooking and washing of dishes.

 

“That simply indicates selfishness and unfairness,” she said.

 

Women have also remained vulnerable to domestic violence, Hong said.

 

A joint-study conducted by the Institute for Social Development Studies and the Center for Studies and Applied Sciences in Gender-FamilyWomen and Adolescents (CSAGA) had indicated that domestic violence towards women has been o­n the rise over the last decade, Hong said.

 

The first nationwide survey of Vietnamese families, conducted by Vietnam's Institute of Family and Gender Studies and UNICEF, also said last year that men still dominate households, and domestic violence occurs in 20 percent of marriages with women and children being the overwhelming majority of victims.

 

This problem remains behind closed doors, however, without adequate intervention by the police or social services because couples fear “losing face,” or do not want to “wash their dirty linen in public,” the survey said.

 

Vietnam has for millennia been a traditionally rural and patriarchal society, where Confucian values stressed the family unit and dictated that the young respect their elders, and that women are obedient to their husbands.

 

Hong said society should embrace more open and practical attitudes towards family models in the modern age.

 

The 2008 UNICEF report said the number of three-generation households in Vietnam was decreasing, possibly due to industrialization.

 

Family Day, falling o­n June 28 each year, was initiated in Vietnam in 2001.

 

A golden anniversary celebration was held Saturday in Hanoi’s Co Nhue Commune for 40 couples.

 

In Ho Chi Minh City, an array of activities also took place at the September 23rd Park, drawing huge attendance of many families.

 

VIETNAMESE FAMILY FACTSHEET

 

A 2008 UNICEF report said divorce, o­nce almost unheard of in Vietnam, has "increased rapidly in recent years," to 2.6 percent of respondents aged 18 to 60, with most divorcees citing "differences in opinion about lifestyle, adultery and economic difficulties."

 

The survey also found that many parents now feel they are no longer able to spend enough time with their children and, with a lack of affordable child care, worry about their children’s mental and emotional development.

 

Women spend six times as much time as men caring for children under 15. Parents cited work as a common time constraint in childrearing and pointed to arguing, fighting, truancy, drinking, gambling, drug abuse, smoking, and staying out all night as common worries about their children, according to the report.

VietNamNet/TN

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