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[Podcast] Promoting the Role of Women in Ho Chi Minh City in Building Civilized Families according to Ho Chi Minh’s Ideology – Issue 1

4 November, 2024

Keywords: Role; women; promotion; Ho Chi Minh

President Ho Chi Minh pointed out that training and fostering women, including female officials, is one of the important and fundamental tasks to the Party in promoting the role and capacity of women for the development of society and for them towards fulfilling their natural duties in the family. Therefore, researching his ideology on the role of women and the issue of training and fostering women, applying his ideology to correctly determine the role of women in Ho Chi Minh City is to aim at appropriate solutions to encourage and create conditions for women to highly promote their creativity, contributing worthily to the construction of civilized families today is an increasingly urgent issue. This is the reason that motivated the author group from University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City to carry out the research topic “Promoting the role of women in Ho Chi Minh City in building civilized families according to Ho Chi Minh’s ideology”.

The role of women in Ho Chi Minh’s ideology

Ho Chi Minh’s ideology on the role of women comes from his special feelings for women, from the reality of women’s inequality under the feudal regime to the harsh rule of French colonialism over Vietnam in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As early as 1920, Nguyen Ai Quoc used the press to highlight the suffering of women under the colonial regime and condemn the crimes of the colonial regime against the people of the colonies, especially women. More than anyone else, Ho Chi Minh understood that, in society, women were oppressed, suffered and disadvantaged the most. Under the feudal regime, dominated by the ideology of “one man is suficient, ten women are insufficient”, women were not respected. Meanwhile, women were an important force in the revolution, willing to sacrifice for the revolutionary cause.

Women also had a special function of reproducing people, meeting the needs of labor and maintaining the existence of society, fulfilling the role of wife and mother in the family. Ho Chi Minh always appreciated the great role of Vietnamese women and showed us that Marxism-Leninism highly appreciated the role of women in society. He wrote: “Mr. Marx stated: Whoever knows history knows that if one aims to reform society without the help of women, it is certainly impossible. By looking at the thoughts and actions of women and girls, one will know how society has progressed”. Nguyen Ai Quoc soon realized the great role of women in history and revolutionary practice, from which he determined women are an important revolutionary force. In his Revolutionary Path, Ho Chi Minh affirmed that women made up the majority of the people’s forces but were restrained and suffered a lot; therefore, they always had the spirit of revolutionary struggle. The revolutionary cause cannot be successful without the involvement of women.

Assessing the great role of women, Ho Chi Minh pointed out that the underlying cause leading to gender inequality in society is the ideology of “respecting men and despising women” that has existed for a long time in Vietnamese society. “Respecting men and despising women is a habit that has been left for thousands of years as it is deeply ingrained in everyone’s minds, every family, every social class”. The mentality of respecting men and despising women has tied women to the family. Therefore, to promote the role of women, it is necessary to liberate women from the chains that bind them. Ho Chi Minh emphasized that the cause of women’s liberation is closely linked to the revolution of national, class, and human liberation. He indicated that “Talking about women means talking about half of one society. If we do not liberate women, we will not liberate half of humanity. If we do not liberate women, we will only build half of socialism.” Ho Chi Minh stressed that the cause of women’s liberation is not the revolutionary work of women alone but closely linked to the revolution of national, class, and human liberation. “Women are also part of the people. If the whole nation is free, of course, they are free. On the contrary, if the nation is still in slavery, they and their children will live in that slavery.”

According to Ho Chi Minh, the cause of gender inequality in society results from the limited awareness of people, not understanding correctly the equality between men and women, considering it as the equal division of household chores between husband and wife. He wrote: “Many people mistakenly think that it is an easy task. Today, you cook, wash dishes, sweep the house; on the other hand, tomorrow, I sweep the house, cook rice, wash dishes, that is equality. Big mistake! That is a rather big and difficult revolution”. To realize gender equality, according to Ho Chi Minh, it is necessary to eliminate negative perceptions of men: “Liberate women, at the same time destroy feudal ideology, bourgeois ideology in men”. It can be stated that the struggle to have a correct perception of the women’s role is truly a revolution in ideology, in the awareness of each family, each person, and of society, through the fields of economics, politics, culture, and law.

Along with pointing out the causes of gender inequality in society, to enhance the role of women, Ho Chi Minh mentioned measures to solve gender inequality based on the legal system. First of all, it is the Law on Marriage and Family. He suggested that the Law on Marriage and Family is progressive and revolutionary because it plays a great role in the cause of women’s liberation and of building new families. Ho Chi Minh often reminded Party organizations, authorities, and unions to improve mobilizing women and implementing gender equality. According to him, equality in accordance with gender roles means that “Vietnamese women are equal to men in all civil rights”. In practice, work and daily life, Ho Chi Minh paid much attention and care to the lives of women. He assigned the responsibility to Party agencies, authorities at all levels, and unions to propagate, disseminate, educate, and strictly enforce the law. He affirmed that “The Party, the government and unions (first of all women and youth) need to make efforts to propagate the Law on Marriage and Family both intensively and extensively and must strictly comply to it. The barbaric habits of beating wives and forcing children must end. Women’s rights must be truly guaranteed”. Along with the law, families and society need to pay attention and create conditions for women, especially in arranging jobs for them. Women’s work must be assigned scientifically, appropriately and in accordance with women’s health, physical condition and functions. He advised: “We must pay special attention to women’s labor. Women are a very large labor force. We must maintain their health so that they can participate well in production. It is the scientific division of gender labor that will create conditions for women to develop their abilities”.

Ho Chi Minh clearly stated that the roles of women in the family and in the society are not contradictory; actually, they are unified and mutually complemented. When women are liberated within the family, it helps women better fulfill their role as wives and mothers in an equal relationship with men within their own families. The role of women in society is reflected in the role of women in the family as the nucleus of society. When women fulfill their roles as wives and mothers well, actively building a prosperous, equal, progressive, and happy family, it is the social role of women. Therefore, liberating women within the family must be associated with liberating women socially and improving the position of women in society. He advised women to actively participate in social work and in mastering the country, which is both a right and a responsibility of women. He often encouraged and motivated women to rise up, actively study, and improve their qualifications, “must eliminate the mentality of inferiority and dependence; must have the will to be self-reliant and independent; must constantly improve political, cultural, and technical levels” only then will there be equal opportunities with men. From recognizing and identifying the great role of women in the revolutionary cause, Ho Chi Minh confirmed that women have great potential, especially leadership ability, therefore, it is necessary to nurture and train women to arrange and promote women to leadership and management positions in order to promote their roles and abilities.

These are the most prominent points in Ho Chi Minh’s ideology on the role of women that still hold true today. They are also the basis for building a strategy to nurture and train women, including female officials, in order to promote the role and position of women in the current revolutionary period.

Promoting the role of women in Ho Chi Minh City in building civilized families according to Ho Chi Minh’s ideology

Ho Chi Minh City is the leading city in the country in economic innovation and development. Currently, the city is promoting industrialization, modernization and international integration, which has created strong changes in the role of women in building families. The role of women in the city in building civilized families can be summarized as follows:

First, the role of women in building and developing the family economy

The trend of opening up to economic integration in Vietnam along with the process of industrialization and modernization of the country has created opportunities for women in the city to participate in activities in all fields and economic sectors to increase income. In family life, women play a particularly important role, they do both housework and are involved in production, contributing to building the family economy. Promoting the tradition of self-reliance and creativity in the labor of women in Ho Chi Minh City in the past and present. With the will and the determination not to accept poverty and backwardness, women have strived to work and to produce, considering it their responsibility. Women in Ho Chi Minh City who account for 51.3% of the population are the owners in developing the household economy and the main laborers in agricultural production that participate in the economic restructuring towards industrialization and modernization and strive to become rich legitimately. In industrial production, female workers actively study to improve their skills, contributing to creating many valuable products for export. In production and business, women promote their intellectual potential, dynamism and sensitivity, boldly organize production and business effectively, and become successful business owners. In handicrafts, with intelligence and creativity, women have promoted their talents, restored and developed traditional occupations. Women’s proactive participation in production and business activities has reduced their dependence on men and is the basis for improving the status of women in the family and society.

Second, the role of women in building a progressive and happy family

Regarding raising and educating children, currently, because of the improved living standards, many women in the city have invested in their children’s education and paid attention to their moral education and health care. Thanks to their good awareness of their functions and duties in caring for their children, the children’s health has changed positively. The biggest change in the field of education is women’ enhanced role and position thanks to their example of productive labor. Through labor, women teach and impart knowledge and experience to their children, helping them to develop their willpower, independence, love of learning, and aspiration to become useful people. In addition to educating children to respect, love, and be grateful to grandparents and parents, women have to educate their children. With their natural duty and love, women in the city have realized that educating children is important; when they become mothers, this responsibility becomes even more important.

Regarding decisions on family matters, nowadays, the concept of housework as a duty and a natural responsibility of women has changed a lot. Women have learned how to guide their husbands in involving in housework in order to change their husbands’ thoughts and prejudices. With their husbands’ attention and sharing in housework, women in the city have actively participated in economic activities, bringing a stable source of income to the family and organizing family life well. In deciding on important family matters, women not only perform work within the family but are also the ones who directly produce material wealth. With women’s contributions of money and effort, the patriarchal concept of the husband as the head of the family is gradually being replaced by discussions between husband and wife. Women are no longer dependent on their husbands but have made important decisions with their husbands and divided tasks in the family. In implementing family planning, the reproduction of human beings is closely linked to the need to reduce the birth rate. Women in the city have actively implemented family planning, fought against backward customs, and the ideology of male superiority over females. Consequently, the population growth rate has continuously decreased, and the concept of having a son to continue the family line is no longer important.

Regarding their participation in social activities, women in the city are increasingly involved as they are present at all levels, sectors, and fields. Women have made great contributions in building resolutions, policies, and plans for economic, social, and national security and defense development. In education and training, women in always strive to research, study, improve their qualifications, and be proactive and creative in their profession to improve the quality of teaching and learning. In the health sector, women are the pioneers in family planning programs, medical examination and treatment for poor women and children, especially in rural areas. In the field of science, technology and environment, the city’s females have promoted initiatives, contributed research topics that are applicable and practical for socio-economic development, applied scientific and technological advances to production development, solved waste treatment, overcome pollution, and protected the environment. In Party and government building, with the attention of authorities at all levels and the efforts of women themselves, the proportion of women in the city participating in Party committees and leaders in elected bodies has generally increased in both quantity and quality. In addition to participating in Party committees and People’s Councils at all levels, women in the city participate in other important positions in the government and unions. In the field of management, the number of female officials holding leadership positions listed as Heads and Deputy Heads of Departments, Directors and Deputy Directors has also increased. In community activities, participation in community activities demonstrates the relationship between the family and the community, and social institutions. Like the whole country, in Ho Chi Minh City, the head of household is usually male who are often the representatives of the family in communication with the community. However, survey data show that although the husband is the main representative in social work, there is a sharing and a shift of roles between husband and wife. The increase in the proportion of women in jobs that were previously only for men shows that in families there is a sharing of responsibilities, they not only participate in doing housework but also participate in social activities. This is a clear step forward in the position of women.

In addition to the above roles, in the family, with their natural responsibilities, women in Ho Chi Minh City arrange and organize family life, and regulate family relationships. They take on all the work from raising and caring for dependents, to housework and organizing family life. In social relations, with modesty and respect for sentiment, women have built relationships with family, relatives and neighbors with feelings of mutual support, sharing, helping and encouraging each other.

Third, the role of women in fulfilling their civic duties

In preventing social evils, along with the whole country, Ho Chi Minh City is developing a socialist-oriented market economy. On the one hand, the market mechanism has accelerated economic growth and increased personal income, which is the basis for consolidating and maintaining family sustainability. On the other hand, the market economy has negative impacts on families and society. Drug abuse, domestic violence, and social evils are increasing. Realizing the dangers of social evils to family life and society, women in this city have organized seminars, workshops, and training sessions on “prevention of child sexual abuse”, “prevention of domestic violence”, and “women marrying foreigners”. In addition, women in the city carry out the campaign “Building a family of 5 no, 3 clean”. The “5 no” criteria include: no poverty, no violations of the law and social evils, no domestic violence, no third or more children, no malnourished and school drop-out children; the “3 clean” criteria include clean house, clean kitchen, clean alley. At the same time, women in the city actively implement the resolution of the Central Executive Committee of the Vietnam Women’s Union on several issues related to women and children. In local movement activities, they have implemented Resolution 32 of the Government on a number of urgent solutions to limit traffic accidents. They have actively participated in maintaining traffic safety and urban order, promoting the fine traditions of Vietnamese women. They helped each other develop the economy in many forms listed as interest-free loans, support for means of production, and building revolving capital contribution groups, etc. Community sentiment is not only limited to the neighborhood where women live but also expressed in helping compatriots across the country who are in difficulty and disaster due to natural disasters. Practical activities in all fields have brought high economic and social efficiency and aroused the good nature of women. They have fulfilled their motherly duties in the family, raised and educated their children to become useful people for the society. Along with the positive changes mentioned above, there have been some pressing issues in promoting the role of women in the city, namely awareness of the role of women in the family and in society, which is still limited. The level of education, health status, and cultural and spiritual life of women have not been improved. Social evils on women and domestic violence and women abuse have also remained negatively impactful.

The full-text article on Promoting the role of women in Ho Chi Minh City in building a civilized family according to Ho Chi Minh’s ideology can be accessed HERE.

Author: Dr. Nguyen Khanh Van – University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH).

This article is part of the series spreading research and applied knowledge from UEH with the message “Research Contribution For All”. UEH cordially invites readers to wait for the next UEH Research Insights issue.

News, photos: The Author, UEH Department of Communications and Partnerships