Feminism in Vietnam: Women’s Studies, Gender Research, and Intersections

Summary, in English

In this chapter we approach inequalities between women and men in Vietnam through the lens of feminism. We address the manner in which feminism is understood, observing intellectual currents that resonate with global trends in some respects and those reflecting conditions more specific to Vietnam in others. Affinities with global currents, for example, are seen in the ways in which Vietnamese intellectuals have understood the longstanding societal and political goal of reaching ‘equality between men and women’ (nam nữ bình quyền), in which we observe a shift from focusing explicitly on women—in the tradition of women’s studies, to a greater focus on relations between women, men, and other groups—in the tradition of gender studies, and still more recently to an approach that highlights intersectionality, i.e. one focused on intersections of gender and other socially defining parameters such as age, ethnicity, sexuality, masculinity, disability, and class and their implications for individuals, groups, and at a societal level. Whereas the specific meanings of feminism, gender, and intersectionality in Vietnam reflect conditions, experiences, and tensions that are more specific and even to specific regions and identities within it.

• Author: Helle Rydström; Huong Thu Nguyen
• Editor: Jonathan D. London
• Department/s: Department of Gender Studies
• Publishing year: 2022-06-15
• Language: English
• Publication/Series: Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Vietnam
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781315762302-30
• Document type: Book chapter
• Publisher: Routledge
• Topic: Gender Studies
• Keywords: Feminism; Women's Studies; Intersections; Gender; LGBTQ; Vietnam
• Status: Published