The Politburo once acknowledged a charge made by the former
general secretary of the Party,Nguyen Van Linh, that "[the Party
was] slow in modernizing the mobilization of women and in amending
policies relating to women.'' On July 29, 1993, the chairwoman
of the Vietnam Women's Union ("VWU") allegedly lodged a similar
complaint when the Party finally issued the first comprehensive resolution
strengthening women's mobilization, six years after DoiMoi.
In summary, Doi Moi has led to some improvements in human rights in
Vietnam, but the changes continue to be slow and have led to new
problems for women.
3. FemaleLeadershipin the Governmentand in the PrivateSector
Overall, in the unified Vietnam, Vietnamese women have not had
a strong presence in Party politics, and the number of women in
policy- making positions continues to be low under Doi Moi. The
President of Vietnam is the head of state and is assisted by the vice
President. Although the Vice Presidential position is currently
held by a woman, Madame Nguyen Thi Binh, her position inherently
lacks policy-making power because she is not a member of the
Politburo, the nucleus of the Party and the ultimate policy-making body. This
Female membership in the Party is also slim. The latest data
show that of the 2,128,742 Party members, only 359,475 were women
(16.9%). Although Ho Chi Minh had envisioned that "if women are not
freed, the construction of socialism will only be halfway done,"'145 sadly
the official figures reflecting women's participation in his Party has
not equaled his aspiration for a healthy 50% ratio. Because the Party
is constitutionally "the leadership force" of the State and society, a
low percentage of women in Party membership, especially in core
bodies like the Politburo and the Central Committee, speaks for the
marginal participation of women in national policy-making. In analyzing
these statistics, however, it should be kept in mind that Vietnamese
women today may or may not view Party membership as meaningful
participation in government or the political process.
Statistically, women's participation in the National Assembly, the
elected legislative body of Vietnam, appears better than in the
Party. Constitutionally, the National Assembly is the highest government
body of the land. It supposedly represents the people and has policy-
making powe. It can dismiss the President, the Vice President, and the
Prime Minister. In reality, the National Assembly is a limited law-making
body in a culture not yet shaped by law. For the 1997-200 term, Vietnam
has 122 female representatives in the National Assembly, or 26.2%, one of
the highest in Southeast Asia (compared to the norm of 2-10% in
neighboring countries). At the local levels, approximately 20.4% of all
members of municipal and provincial People's Councils are women. These
percentage still do not correspond to the percentage of women in the total
population and the work force (approximately 52%).