The average income of Vietnamese women is 5.22 million VND/month, equals to 81.1% the average income of Vietnamese men (5.92 million VND/month). This difference is getting bigger in the senior workforce: If an untrained woman only paid less than 8.1% compared to her male peer, in Bachelor’s Degree group, the gap goes up to 19.7%.

Vietnam is a leading country in the effort of gender equality, especially in the workforce.

The country ranks 33/149 in ‘Economic participation and opportunity’, and ranks 8 in the East Asia and Pacific region, according to the Global Gender Gap report by ILO. With 25% of CEOs and director board members in Vietnam is female, the Vietnamese women’s desire for promotion is crystal clear.

“Not only countries but companies also need to work on Gender Equality. According to the McKenzie report, the increase in women equality will raise 12.000 billion USD of the global GDP. Firms with 30% workforce are female, have increased 15% in revenue. However, the barriers and prejudices against female workers are still there. Worrying about maternity leave, companies often ask the female candidate about her marriage and family, instead of her work experience and career development plan. With foreign direct invested (FDI) companies in Vietnam, the proportion of male employees with infinite term labour contracts is 73.91%, while the female employee’s number is only 67.67%. Female employees are less protected, with lower career stability.” commented by Mr Andree Mangels – General Director, Adecco Malaysia & Vietnam.

Gender equality is not only the question of countries or companies but also to working women. According to ActionAid, Vietnamese women daily spend more than 300 minutes (5 hours) to do ‘nameless’ tasks (housework, child and eldercare…).

Ms Phuong Nguyen, Finance Director of Adecco Vietnam shared: “Every day has 24 hours, divided into work, family and self-care time. The divisions are not equal at times, but priority and balance are always the keys”. The result comes from our 2019 Working Mums Survey in Vietnam

Not only time but also women’s personal choices are being evaluated. At many conferences and workshops about ‘Professional Women Style’, the definition about professional women is still conservative, such as make-up is a must when going to work, or women should wear black and navy blue. Are these standards also present at professional men workshops, or we are putting the unnecessary standard for women?

Fighting for gender equality in Vietnam, although has note-worthy improvements, definitely needs to keep going. The inequality in opportunities, positions, and recruitment, salary policies for women still exists and getting bigger in higher positions, which require degree and work experience.