Women in Vietnam’s Rural Public: Challenging Men in the Economy

Abstract Using a few examples from a rural commune in northern Vietnam's Red River delta, this paper deals with women's possibilities and strategies for expanding their scope of action in public, particularly at the interface of politics and the economy. What is striking in this context is that state administration and politics lack by and large female commitment and is obviously the place where patriarchal dominance is still most deeply entrenched. Through delimiting themselves from male dominated politics, successful female entrepreneurs may also be simply trying to avoid political interference. This could be seen as part of a strategy to secure their position in the economy through trying to conceal the significance of their economic success from the rural public in general.