Overview
This report, “Reducing Gender Inequality in Unpaid Care and Domestic Work in Vietnam: The Case of Ethnic Minorities,” is a collaborative research product by the Centre for Analyses and Forecast (CAF) under the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VASS) and CARE Vietnam, funded by Global Affairs Canada through the Advancing Women’s Economic Empowerment in Vietnam (AWEEV) Project. The study, conducted in October 2021, aimed to address the scarcity of nationally representative empirical evidence on unpaid care and domestic work (UCDW), particularly among ethnic minorities in Vietnam.
The scope of work involved a combined quantitative and qualitative approach. This included quantitative analyses of UCDW based on the Labor Force Survey (LFS) 2020 dataset and a phone-based survey conducted in 2021. The phone survey interviewed 1,000 ethnic minority households across all 63 provinces of Vietnam, yielding nationally representative findings for Vietnam generally and for ethnic minorities specifically.
Key findings indicate significant disparities in UCDW. Individuals identified as female are overwhelmingly the primary caregivers in the home and devote substantially more hours per week to UCDW than those identified as male. For instance, the difference in time spent on housework is 15.5 percentage points, with 93.2% of individuals identified as female doing housework compared to 77.8% of individuals identified as male. UCDW limits labor-force participation and mobility, disproportionately affecting individuals identified as female and those from poor households. Social norms play a significant role, with over two-thirds of respondents believing individuals identified as female do more UCDW because it suits their abilities. Decision-making regarding UCDW within households is slightly skewed, though joint decisions by household partners are common.
Social services, crucial for shifting UCDW burdens from the family to the state, are often limited in ethnic minority areas and underutilized. For example, availability of childcare services varies greatly, and essential services like nursing homes for the elderly, disability centers, and job placement centers for individuals identified as female are in short supply. Based on these findings, the report provides policy recommendations to reduce such disparities through improved evidence-based policymaking, addressing harmful social norms, investing in infrastructure and social services, and enhancing social protection and labor policies.
Key Findings:
- Gendered Division of UCDW: Individuals identified as female dedicate significantly more time and effort to unpaid care and domestic work (UCDW) compared to individuals identified as male, resulting in a substantial disparity in hours and types of tasks performed.
- Impact on Labor Participation: The burden of UCDW limits labor force participation and mobility, particularly for individuals identified as female and those from economically disadvantaged households.
- Influence of Social Norms: Prevailing social norms reinforce the unequal distribution of UCDW, with a majority of respondents believing that UCDW is inherently suited to individuals identified as female.
- Household Decision-Making: While joint decision-making on UCDW among household partners is common, there’s a slight imbalance, indicating that individuals identified as female often bear more responsibility for these decisions.
- Limited Access to Social Services: In ethnic minority areas, access to and utilization of social services that could alleviate UCDW burdens (e.g., childcare, elderly care, and job placement services) are often insufficient.
Policy Recommendations:
- Evidence-Based Policymaking: Improve the collection and utilization of data on UCDW to inform and develop more effective policies.
- Addressing Social Norms: Implement initiatives to challenge and transform harmful social norms that perpetuate the unequal distribution of UCDW.
- Investment in Infrastructure and Social Services: Increase investment in and expand the availability of essential infrastructure and social services, such as childcare, elder care, and community support programs.
- Enhanced Social Protection and Labor Policies: Strengthen social protection programs and labor policies to better support individuals engaged in UCDW, promote equitable sharing of responsibilities, and facilitate their participation in the formal economy.
Over the past 10 years, unpaid care and domestic work (UCDW) has received significantly increased attention from economic policymakers. UCDW can be defined as those household services performed by household members for the direct use of other household members that for technical reasons are still not adequately captured in measures of GDP and work. These services include household maintenance activities such as cooking, cleaning, washing and household sanitation activities, care activities performed for children and the elderly, household health care, and informal education and skills building that takes place within the home. UCDW has received increased attention from economic policymakers because it affects development and growth.
According to a review of the literature, the heavy and unequal burden of UCDW on women in Vietnam prevents many working-age women from obtaining paid work and access to decent work. As Vietnam’s population ages¹, the burden of unpaid elder care increases, which disproportionately affects women. Meanwhile, population aging requires increased female labour market participation, including increased working hours and productivity, if Vietnam is to significantly increase GDP per capita and achieve its ambitions of becoming an upper-middle income and high-income country by 2025 and 2045, respectively.
The review of the literature also reveals that the findings of existing studies are not nationally representative of the Vietnamese population as a whole, nor of ethnic minorities in particular. Meanwhile, when deciding between paid and unpaid care work, women in more developed UCDW markets, particularly large urban areas, face fewer constraints than their counterparts in ethnic
minority areas. Gender and ethnic disparities are thus intertwined, reinforcing one another. This highlights the importance of conducting an in-depth investigation into the UCDW issue in an ethnicity-sensitive manner.