Gender Dimensions of Vietnam�s Comprehensive Macroeconomic and

							Temple Center for Vietnamese Philosophy, Culture and Society
Presentation by Le Anh Tu Packard
January 25, 2005




            Gender Dimensions of
                 Vietnam’s
             Economic Reforms
   Why is Vietnam an interesting case study?
• “Globalization success story”
• Historically social & political status of women have been high
  (compared to other developing countries)
• Relationship between gender equality & economic performance:
  what are causal links between macroeconomic & structural reform,
  gender status, economic development & women’s welfare?
• Reform policies, although gender-neutral in intent, can give rise to
  gendered outcomes due to underlying factors:
   – social attitudes influenced by patriarchal values
   – occupational segregation & related gender wage differentials
   – gender differences in education levels

                           Gender Dimensions of Vietnam's
                           Economic Reforms - Le Anh Tu
 Concern about erosion of women’s status ...
• “Since renunification and peace – and especially since
  the initiation of economic reform – there have been
  growing signs that the position of women is declining,
  particularly in rural, secluded and remote areas. In
  recent years, during which a differentiation between the
  poor and the rich has been accentuated, women are
  gradually withdrawing from the activities of society
  and state management. At the same time, Confucian
  views of gender inequality are returning.”
         – Tran Thi Que (gender-specialist)

                      Gender Dimensions of Vietnam's
                      Economic Reforms - Le Anh Tu
  Pro-Women Macroeconomic Policies
• Rapid & stable growth: good for women through
  several channels: more jobs, higher income &
  consumption, more resources for state to spend on
  pro-women & pro-poor social welfare programs
• Large fluctuations in economic activity (such as
  those induced by financial crises) impose high
  costs on women. Implication: state should adopt
  prudent macroeconomic policies to reduce
  vulnerability to fiscal & financial shocks.

                 Gender Dimensions of Vietnam's
                 Economic Reforms - Le Anh Tu
Doi Moi’s comprehensive reforms
• Rural reforms: decollectivization of agriculture, return
  to self-managed family farms, long term leases
  granted
• Liberal foreign investment law
• Anti-inflation measures: positive real rates of interest,
  fiscal discipline, tighter budgets, SOE reform & hard
  budget constraint
• Exchange rate unification & massive devaluation
• Foreign trade reforms to improve incentive to export
  & give easier access to imported inputs, reduction of
  tariff barriers & QRs
                  Gender Dimensions of Vietnam's
                  Economic Reforms - Le Anh Tu
 VN’s approach to reform is pragmatic
• Gradual approach to structural reform
   – tension between market orientation & VCP’s desire to
     control key areas of economy
   – on issues where consensus among political leadership is
     weak, reform measures must show positive results to win
     greater support
• Good appreciation of potential gains from external
  liberalization
• Awareness that with globalization comes increased
  vulnerability to external shocks
                 Gender Dimensions of Vietnam's
                 Economic Reforms - Le Anh Tu
Doi Moi Reforms: Broad Gains in Social Welfare
• VN successfully emerged from crisis of near famine &
  hyperinflation to attain macroeconomic stability, high
  GDP growth & halving of poverty rate during first
  decade of reforms
• Significant increase in HDI from 0.583 in 1985 to
  0.688 by 2000 (VN in medium human development
  category despite low per capita income)
• Major epidemiological change: share of communicable
  diseases in mortality & morbidity dropped from 59
  percent in 1986 to 27 percent in 1997.
                 Gender Dimensions of Vietnam's
                 Economic Reforms - Le Anh Tu
Main Findings on Gender Dimensions
of Vietnam’s Macroeconomic Reform Experience (1)
• Despite persistence of gender inequality, women generally
  benefited from Doi Moi reforms & shift to market economy
• Status of women and different degrees of gender inequality
  associated with ethnicity, geography & residence (urban or
  rural)  large variations in the reforms’ gender effects
• Attributes associated with their more equal socioeconomic &
  legal status enabled women to take advantage of new income
  generating opportunities created by reforms
• Women in dominant ethnic group & living in urban areas
  benefited more than rural & ethnic minority women due to
  their relatively more equal status & better access to
  economic resources
                  Gender Dimensions of Vietnam's
                  Economic Reforms - Le Anh Tu
 Main Findings on Gender Dimensions
 of Vietnam’s Macroeconomic Reform Experience (2)
• Fiscal austerity & downsizing had disproportionate negative
  impact on women during early reform years
   – laid off workers from state sector (mostly women) were forced out of
     secure formal sector into insecure informal sector
• Comprehensive Doi Moi reforms cleared bottlenecks on
  supply side  surge in economic growth more than offset
  contractionary effects of stabilization policies
• Early reforms in VN especially potent in its effects because
  VN possessed many social features of middle-income
  country & therefore had capacity to respond quickly to
  change in incentive structure.

                      Gender Dimensions of Vietnam's
                      Economic Reforms - Le Anh Tu
 Main Findings on Gender Dimensions
 of Vietnam’s Macroeconomic Reform Experience (3)
• Gender inequalities were mitigated by state policies that
  allowed women to take advantage of newly created diverse
  range of income generating opportunities
   – 1986 Law on Family and Marriage (wife equal to husband, joint
     responsibility for household chores & child care, sons & daughters
     should receive equal treatment)
   – Revised 2000 Law on Family and Marriage (land-use right certificates
     should include names of both husband and wife)
   – National Strategy for the Advancement of Women 2001-2010
• Women’s welfare gains reflected in GDI > HDI
• Narrowing of gender wage gap in formal sector observed
  during period 1993 - 98 (update is needed to verify trend)
                      Gender Dimensions of Vietnam's
                      Economic Reforms - Le Anh Tu
          Main Conclusions (1)
• Vietnam has potential to maintain high per
  capita growth rate of 1990s.
• Conditional on having right policies &
  institutions (allowing women to participate fully
  in all sectors of the economy)
• Scope for growth: most people still working in
  low productivity primary sector, & have yet to
  realize the large gains from shifting labor to
  higher productivity secondary & tertiary sectors
                 Gender Dimensions of Vietnam's
                 Economic Reforms - Le Anh Tu
Main Conclusions & Future Research (2)
• Despite persistence of gender inequality, welfare of
  women in VN generally improved
• Composition of output growth & distribution of
  wealth & income, & impact on various components
  of demand, can affect men & women differently
   – Does increase in income of poor households increase demand for
     goods & services from sectors dominated by women workers?
     LSMS can provide answers.
   – Does more unequal distribution of income cause shift in demand
     composition towards imported goods and/or goods produced in male-
     dominated capital-intensive import substitution sectors such as steel
     & cement? Need CGE model informed by empirical research.
                       Gender Dimensions of Vietnam's
                       Economic Reforms - Le Anh Tu
Main Conclusions & Future Research (3)
• VN’s prudent macroeconomic policies produced
  rapid & stable growth: beneficial to women
• Increased integration with global economy (US-VN
  BTA, ASEAN Free Trade Area, WTO membership)
  offers opportunities & risks:
  – Share of women workers in export sector is high.
  – Policies needed to reduce horizontal segregation (increase female
    participation in more skill-intensive high wage sectors)
  – Policies needed to reduce vertical segregation (enable women to
    move up hierarchical ladder)
  – Greater vulnerability to external shocks: economic crises seen to
    impose disproportionately high costs on women.
                      Gender Dimensions of Vietnam's
                      Economic Reforms - Le Anh Tu