2 - The Gender Aspect of Vietnamese Labour Migrants and its Implications

This paper will consider the gender aspect of Vietnamese migrants and its implications in the neoliberal globalized world.

Vietnam introduced the Doi-Moi (renovation) policy in 1986, and has proceeded with the market economy and the deregulation in the various field of socio-economic activity. At the same time, Vietnam also got involved in the wave of globalization. As a result, the Vietnamese economy has tremendously developed, and the migration of its population have also increased.

According to the General Statistics Office of Vietnam, in the latter half of 2010s, 7.3% of people over the age of 5 migrated. However, when you look at the statistics more closely, the majority of migrants are young generation from between the age of 20 to 39 years old, which counts for 61.8%. In other words, concerning this generation, the number of people who migrated are twice of those who remain in the country (including the movement within the same village administration).

Their destination is mostly to domestic large city or its surroundings where it is easy to get jobs, such as Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Duong province in the southern area, Da Nang City in the central area, and Ha Noi City and Bach Ninh province in the northern area. Although man and women both migrate, in recent years there are more female than male migrants. Furthermore, female migrants tend to be younger and decide to move to places that are closer to home than male migrants.