Supporting Vietnamese women in politics

Past project

Why are we doing this research?

In Vietnam, women hold less than 10% of membership in political parties and even fewer numbers in cabinet.

This collaborative project between Vietnam's Center for Gender Studies and Women's Leadership (GeLead) and the Australian Human Rights Institute worked to strengthen GeLead's research capacity in order to develop a wide range of training curricula for various leadership training courses and recommendations to the leaders of the Party and the State of Vietnam for gender-sensitive policies.

This research seeks to address the systematic and persistent political underrepresentation of women in all political branches, by identifying explicit and implicit barriers to women's greater political participation.

Report

With the support of funding from the Australian DFAT AUs4skills, Professor Louise Chappell from the Australian Human Rights Institute and Professor Luong Thu Hien from GeLEAD at the Ho Chi Minh Academy of Politics completed their study investigating barriers to women's progress in the Vietnamese Civil Service.

The project report found embedded formal rules such as earlier retirement ages for women, expectations about women's care responsibilities and networking opportunities that favour men, have limited women's ability to rise to the most senior positions in Vietnam's executive government positions. 

The report Reaching the Apex: Strengthening Opportunities for Women's Leadership in Politics and Public Administration in Vietnam was launched in Hanoi by the Australian Ambassador to Vietnam, H.E. Ms Robyn Mudie. It is set to become the blueprint for reform towards greater gender equality in the Vietnamese Public Administration.

Who we are

GeLead team

  • Luong Thu Hien
  • Chau My Linh
  • Vu Thi Thu
  • Trịnh Quế Anh

Institute team

Research team

Members of the Vietnamese and Australian research team meet with a senior Vietnamese government representative in Hanoi.

How was this funded?

Links