Women in Vietnam Essay -- Vietnam War Essays

Women in Vietnam Towards the end to the Twentieth century, Vietnam, a rapidly changing country goes through a political and social transition, from a socialist to an open market "capitalist type" society. Since the late 1980's Vietnam has adjusted it's economy to compete with the world. In doing so, the country undergoes many political and social reforms. Ideals of the west have been implemented into Vietnams "market" economy. There is definitely a change that is occurring however the social status of women in Vietnam has not changed much. Moreover Vietnam's transformation into the global economy has created large social gaps, which in turn creates many social inequalities, in particular, women in the sex industry. The sex industry has always been a profitable industry. One can find this to be the case in many parts of the world. But what is it that makes the Vietnamese "Pleasure Industry" different? By using the works of Nguyen-Vo (Governing the Social: Prostitution and Liberal governance in Vietnam during Marketization) and Tran (Through the eye of the Needle: Vietnamese Textile and Garment Industries, Rejoining the Global Economy), I will discuss the problematic conditions of women in lower economic class of Vietnam. Prostitution is considered a "social evil" in Vietnam, but being deemed "evil" does not put an end to this endemic problem that has been around for thousands of years. Prostitution is an issue that few individuals have taken to fully understand and in this case, the issue is misunderstood and many voices go unheard. Classified as "whores", the women of the lower class in Vietnam don't have much to turn to. Vietnam's open economy has only created a bigger market for "pleasure". Gradually the identity of the young ladies in Vietnam become more and more of a commodity, well at least in the eyes of the foreigner. "Foreign guest' sought out a 'taste of nice and cool specialty dishes of Vietnam'. High quality goods, whores deluxe" and so on (Nguyen-vo, 92-93). Being identified as "high quality goods", they do what is expected from them and they survive. Due to the lack of education, these girls find themselves lost in the advancing city. Their hopes for success are crushed and with it lies the memories of disparity, the starvation of childhood, the beating of the drunken father, and many other troubles of poverty. ... ...r many of the women in Vietnam, the possibility of liberation lies with a different vision and a decentralized, "perpetual individual politics of everyday interaction" (John Doe, forgot his name). Without a widely shared vision, individual changes will not occur. Society will be at a halt. Not only must the world look at the many "authentic dishes" that Vietnam has to offer, but natives of Vietnam themselves must realize that the creation of these "dishes" were made through constant fabrications of struggle and poverty. Vietnam as a country must create "new dishes" to serve to the world. They must no rely on the dishes of poverty and of struggle, but instead they must cultivate a "dish" that truly reveals the hardworking ethics of what it means to be Vietnamese. In our society today we have problems that arise from corruption and other various factors. It saddens me to say that to escape prostitution is impossible, yet it is the responsibility of society to heal the wounds that have been left "bleeding" for quite a while now. Even American Journalist Barbara Walter states, "Prostitution is a world that is here to stay, like it or not it is time to make the best of it".