~ Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui. ~
The Vietnam News

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Freedom brings rise in abuse reports

Greater social freedom has been accompanied by an increase in reports of violence against women, a conference has heard. According to yesterday's Liberation Saigon newspaper, a United Nations-sponsored conference in Hanoi earlier this week heard the economic prosperity and increasing personal freedom of the past decade had brought with them a darker side of social change in Vietnam.

"Violence against women is growing, particularly within the family unit, and research shows the situation in rural Vietnam is particularly disturbing," the report said. "The past eight years has seen at least 11,000 cases of domestic violence reported to authorities, a social problem which until the 1990s was virtually unheard of." It remained unclear if the figures reflected an increase in the incidence of violence or whether women were now more likely to seek help from outside the extended family.

Hien Khanh, chairwoman of the Hanoi Woman's Association, said the picture was further clouded by uneven social change between rural and urban areas. "Domestic violence in rural areas is very much worse than in the cities, but reporting to authorities is much higher in places like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City," she said. "Women in the cities are more aware of their rights and have better chances to live independently. This is reflected in the increase in divorce [prompted by abuse] made possible by financial independence and changes in urban attitudes towards second marriages."

Ho Chi Minh, the father of modern Vietnam, enshrined sexual equality in the country's constitution and women played an important role - often as combatants - in the wars against French colonialism and America's presence in South Vietnam. Ms Khanh said the problem in Vietnam was no worse than in neighbouring countries. However, a two-year survey concluded earlier this year by Care International found that "a vast majority" of married women in southern Vietnam had been beaten by their husbands.

Another conducted by the Ho Chi Minh City Centre for Marriage and Family found most cases were linked to alcohol abuse, poverty and extra-marital affairs. It found that almost 50 per cent of those surveyed believed a husband was entitled to treat his wife however he saw fit. The survey of 190 male and 351 female city residents found 44.5 per cent believed a wife should be subservient to her husband, and that most abused wives had been ill-treated for failing to show their husband sufficient respect.

Women make up slightly more than half of Vietnam's population, but one estimate by the Vietnam Farmers' Association suggests they are directly responsible for more than 70 per cent of agricultural output while remaining overwhelmingly responsible for family care. Despite their constitutional guarantee of equality, women are still under-represented in the nation's power structures.

By Huw Watkin - The South China Morning Post - December 30, 2000.