“It was a pleasure to run a company”: overcoming gender stereotypes in Vietnam

Fan first began cooking and promoting dried fish on the age of 5, throughout village ceremonies in Bac Giang.

“It has been a pleasure to run an organization,” she says.

Nevertheless, Van struggled to persuade her household that Aman leaving her banking job as a result of uncertainty of her small enterprise was the fitting determination.

Phan additionally confronted the problem of deeply ingrained concepts about “caregivers” and “breadwinners” in Vietnamese households, the identical concepts that current analysis printed by CARE reveals stop ladies from doing what they know how one can do.

In Vietnam, CARE discovered that 80% of males and 60% of ladies agreed that ladies entrepreneurs ought to be the principle childcare giver, regardless of the added stress of operating a enterprise. And 76.6% of these over the age of 51 agreed that males ought to be the principle breadwinner for his or her households.

Additionally in Vietnam, mothers-in-law have been revealed to be staunch supporters of the rule on childcare, and people who can be a lot disapproved if a person did extra childcare than a lady.

Surprisingly, the enterprise lady herself adopted this intently.

Fan, who now runs a profitable meals manufacturing and gross sales enterprise specializing in wholesome biscuits, needs to set a distinct instance for his or her two sons.

“I would like my kids to see me as a job mannequin for girls—a lady who can lead a very good life, run a very good enterprise and never fear about monetary burdens.”

Van needs to point out not solely her sons however the world that ladies know how one can run a enterprise.

A brand new era with new concepts

One vibrant spot in CARE’s analysis was that 63.3% of individuals ages 26-50 disagreed with the norm a couple of man being the breadwinner, exhibiting a extra progressive response by the youthful group towards conventional gender roles, so the sons of Van A part of a brand new era. It could actually assist change how issues get achieved.

“Girls in Vietnam are sometimes framed as solely able to caring for the home,” says Fan.

“I would like my kids to see that ladies are able to many issues apart from that.”