Women vendors in Hanoi during Vietnam's transition economy

Abstract

This thesis examines, within the theoretical framework of socialist feminism, female workers in the urban informal sector under Vietnam's current transition economy. Vietnam is now in its transition period from a centrally planned economy to a market based economy. This transformation has resulted in the reduction of employees in the formal sector, the drastic decrease of real wages, price increases and the cutback of public service and subsidies. The country is also faced with rapid urbanization processes and a young population. These factors have forced many Vietnamese people, especially women to turn to the urban informal sector.

The thesis examines the negative effects of economic restructuring and the ideology of patriarchy which has been embedded in Vietnamese society for thousands of years on poor female workers in the urban informal sector by interviewing fruits, vegetables and flowers sellers in Hanoi in the summer of 2000. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)