GENDER UNDERSTANDING

MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TRANSPORT ASSIGNMENT Topic: Gender gap in education enrollment Subject: GENDER UNDERSTANDING Student name: NGUYEN NGOC PHUONG THAO Student ID: IEC19PL Instructor: PHAM THI LAN PHUONG Submission date: 24th August 2020 DESCRIBE GENDER GAP IN EDUCATION ENROLLMENT IN VIETNAM OR A COMMUNITY AND DISCUSS POLICIES ON CLOSING THE GAP NGUYEN NGOC PHUONG THAO _ Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport NGUYEN NGOC PHUONG THAO – IEC19PL009 Page CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF TABLES ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION I Gender Gap in The World and Vietnam In the world In Vietnam II Consequence in Gender Equality 13 III Policy on Expansion of Women's Education 14 Benefit of educational women 14 The International Community and Vietnamese Law effect on schooling to raise gender differences 14 a The International Community 14 b Law of Gender Equality in Vietnam 15 CONCLUSION 17 REFERENCES 18 NGUYEN NGOC PHUONG THAO – IEC19PL009 Page LIST OF FIGURES Figure The number of out-of-school children of primary school age in the world (Source: UNESCO eAtlas of gender inequality in Education) Figure Global number of out-of-school children both men and women in all three level-ages from 2000 to 2018 (Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics databases) Figure Rate of literate population aged 15 and over by both gender, 1989-2009 (Source: Tổ ng cục điề u tra Dân Số và Nhà ở Viê ̣t Nam năm 2009) 10 Figure The ratio of human development index from 1990 to 2018 (Source: data statistics from UNDP) 16 NGUYEN NGOC PHUONG THAO – IEC19PL009 Page LIST OF TABLES Table Percentage of literate population aged 15 and over in gender in urban and rural residence (Source: Tổ ng cục thố ng kê, 2015-2018) 11 Table Proportion of school attendance of 5-year-old children and above in 2009 (Source: Tổ ng cục thố ng kê – Tổ ng điề u tra dân số 2009) 12 NGUYEN NGOC PHUONG THAO – IEC19PL009 Page ABSTRACT Gender inequality has happened as it were in Vietnam but moreover inside the world from centuries back In this research, inquiring about inequalities in education may be a vital mission in today's society, getting to propose measures to adjust the gender gap in education inside the times arranged This composition will show gender inequality in education in Vietnam and other nations also offering choices for narrowing this problem Moreover, in this term paper, the achievements of women within the cutting edge mechanical time both in Vietnam and other nations will be specified KEYWORDS: gender inequality, gender equality, gender inequality in education, gender gap, men and women, Vietnam, in the world NGUYEN NGOC PHUONG THAO – IEC19PL009 Page INTRODUCTION Later a long time, gender equality in education is still a disputable issue among nations around the world, counting in Vietnam If this case still is proceeding, there is a significant upward trend of gender gap within the social problems related to a cause of poverty and domestic violence, hindrance the well-being care of the population as well as confinement of openings to extend salary That why diminishing gender equality in education is considered the beat objective in Vietnam as well as other nations need to realize Nations that effectively gender equity in specific guidance frequently accomplish higher rates of financial and more economic improvement There was a fact that the status of girls and ladies in society has made noteworthy advance through the accomplishments in sexual educational balance in developing nations, the issue of children, particularly women who not allow to go to school is still happening in this period On the other hand, the Vietnamese government has adequate policies in place to help women gain rights in specific areas such as science, economics, finance, and education as well, which has enhanced the position and empowerment for the woman Therefore, to clarify the issues of the gender gap in education, this term paper is divided into four focused point of view for consideration The first section will mention researching gender gaps in education around the world and especially in Vietnam and also deal with outstanding reasons in educational gender inequality Actual figures in those human societies, which have been a hot topic that has never cooled in education over the years And the women here need a miracle from their governments, educational programs for women throughout the world Consequences in gender gap between men and women will be mentioned in the next section Finally, witnessing the problems faced by women, with international community and law in Vietnam were promulgated to narrow the gender gap, especially in education that will be specified NGUYEN NGOC PHUONG THAO – IEC19PL009 Page I Gender Gap in The World and Vietnam In the world Gender inequality persists in developing countries, especially in educational aspect There some reasons for the existence of gender gaps in education The critical barriers of this existence are associated with “poverty, minority status, early marriage” (GenderStats), and so on Explaining for this argument that men's children are sometimes given priority in many ways as families’ cope with the financial burden Because of the current patriarchal cultural positions of women in developing countries, families in which think that investing a tremendous amount of money in boys' education is still more valuable than that of girls They also have to spend a lot of money to serve their daily needs Consequently, girls have to stay at home to learn housework as well as to save money their family As a result, it prevents women from enjoying and receiving the maximum educational interests that the country provides According to the article (UNICEF, 2018) show that “while considerable progress has been made in declining the number of out-of-school girls of primary school age, there are currently 5.5 million more out-of-school girls than boys.” Especially in Chad and Pakistan, for every 78 girls and 84 girls respectively enroll in primary school out of a total of 100 boys Another gender inequality’ article researched by (UNESCO, 2016) illustrates that there was an exactly 80% in the number of schoolgirls not registered for school compared with 16% of the figure for schoolboys in South and West Asia What is more, the eAtlas of UNESCO Institute for Statistics (figure 1) give information about the difference between the number of male and female children approaching educational opportunities in a primary school in more than 200 countries and territories It is highlighted that more than 30.9 million schoolgirls out-of-school rather than the figure for schoolboys (28.4 million) Notably, 16 million of 6-11-year-old-schoolgirls not have the potential for reading and writing in primary school compared to approximately million boys To the opposite, the planet is reaching the modern age of society, such that the proportion of children out-of-school reduced For a variety of developed nations, though, this issue already persists In the past, the number of girls allowed to attend school was limited Still, due to the country's optimized policy, the gender gap among primary school-age children has gradually decreased As can be seen in figure that there was a noticeable decline in the number of out-ofNGUYEN NGOC PHUONG THAO – IEC19PL009 Page children in both three-level education, namely primary, lower secondary, and upper secondary during 19 years It is the highlight that the number of female people in upper secondary age was recorded at 92.4 million in the first year, after which this figure witnessed a substantial downward trend at 67.0 million in 2018 (UIS, 2019) Figure The number of out-of-school children of primary school age in the world (Source: UNESCO eAtlas of gender inequality in Education) Figure Global number of out-of-school children both men and women in all three level-ages from 2000 to 2018 (Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics databases) NGUYEN NGOC PHUONG THAO – IEC19PL009 Page In summary, there is no denying that narrowing the gender gap is a key goal for the sustainable development of all countries, but challenges remain in ensuring gender equality in women in many other respects including the issue of education Surprisingly, according to statistics from UNESCO Institute, the number of girls going to school is gradually increasing thanks to the policies, rights, and educational programs that have been applied In Vietnam Education has always been one of the fundamental aspects of all relevant areas of life Therefore, it is still a priority policy in Vietnam, making the government always make efforts to reduce the gender gap in this modern area The main goal is to help enhance the quality of future human resources to serve the society Data statistics refer from the Article of Assessing the gender inequity in Vietnam in recent years (2009-2012): A case study in Tra Vinh is that the government made an effort to invest the budget in the education aspect, increasing from 16.7% to 20% of the total budget in the period of national development from 2002 to 2008 This investment from the government has contributed a lot to the improvement of human resources that meet the required standards in the future (Nhãn, 2014, p 43) Additionally, government policies to close gender gaps have enabled children to read and write, enhancing standard education and supporting various women who go to school To be more specific, in the three survey periods in figure that lasted 20 years, there was a significant upward trend in the rate of people in the 15 and over age group who can read and write, accounted for at 87.3% in 1989 From year 1999 onwards, this figure experienced considerable growth at 90.3%, reaching a peak of 93.5% in 2009 Besides, an important step forward in gender equality has also been achieved through the sharp rise in the proportion of female literacy (8.7%) for 20 years (Tổ ng cu ̣c thố ng kê, 2011) NGUYEN NGOC PHUONG THAO – IEC19PL009 Page Figure Rate of literate population aged 15 and over by both gender, 1989-2009 (Source: Tổ ng cục điề u tra Dân Số và Nhà ở Viê ̣t Nam năm 2009) On the other hand, the major hurdles that hamper girls’ and women’s education in Vietnam may be summarized in the following points Although the proportion of children attending school at all levels has increased, socio-economic life also affects a lot for the opportunity to go to school especially in countryside The social poor group and ethnic minorities are the most disadvantaged in terms of education Parents belong to the low-income class of society will often focus more on finding financial resources than on their daughter's education Through detailed analysis by regions and economic regions, it shows that the percentage of out-of-school children in some groups is still high, such as children in the poorest quintile, disadvantaged areas, and so one Because a large number of children, family poverty, and low educational attainment of parents affect the higher increasing of drop-out educational in poor rural areas residents compared to urban areas Moreover, many citizens who live in rural areas will think that education is not really necessary, especially for children and women In addition, most schools in rural areas, are often quite far from their accommodation, and the expensive learning costs for children in higher levels According to the research report on out-of-school children, there is a clear gap between the rich and poor groups in society The percentage of out-of-school children belonging to the poor group is three times higher than the figure for the rich, made up at 5.5 times at primary school and 10 times for the NGUYEN NGOC PHUONG THAO – IEC19PL009 Page 10 lower secondary school (Doanh, 2018) Proof of this, as table illustrate that there is still a clear disparity between men and women attending school in rural and urban areas Indeed, women's education lagged behind that of men in attending education, especially roughly 4% in the figure for lower in rural than in urban areas Total Men Women City Countryside 2015 94.9 96.6 93.3 97.6 93.5 2016 95.0 96.7 93.5 97.7 93.6 2017 95.1 96.5 93.6 97.8 93.6 2018 94.8 97.0 93.2 97.7 93.2 Table Percentage of literate population aged 15 and over in gender in urban and rural residence (Source: Tổ ng cục thố ng kê, 2015-2018) Furthermore, cultural stereotypes are one of another aspect that make the gender gap In reality, Vietnam was influenced by feudalism and Confucianism, which has been deeply ingrained for Vietnamese from generation to generation People think that the main responsibility of women is housework, nurturing, and taking care of people who live in their family The aspect of education will be given priority to boys because of the concept that men are the mainstay, who bring money to the whole family Investing in a son's education will bring more value rather than female education This is a reason why the proportion of not enrolling school of women is more likely to higher rather than figure for men Based on data on table 2, the percentage of not enrolling in school of adolescent girls (7.1%) is higher than the figure for boys (5.3%) The GDI indicator in Vietnam reveals that even in the poor provinces gaps in education is still existed The typical example surveyed in Lai Chau province shows that the literacy rate of women is 48% and that there is a huge difference compared to that of men (75.5% is the literacy rate of men in this province) It means that women decreased access to education relative to men (UNDP, 2011) Another aspect of cultural stereotype, child marriage among adolescent girls belong to ethnic minority is one of the causes leading to gender inequality Due to ancient cultural stereotypes that NGUYEN NGOC PHUONG THAO – IEC19PL009 Page 11 make these children mentally and physically disadvantaged These poor girls will not have the opportunity to access advanced education but must yield to the boys Total Not enrolling in school Drop out of school Studying Men 100% 5.3% 69.3% 25.4% Women 100% 7.1% 66.9% 26% Table Proportion of school attendance of 5-year-old children and above in 2009 (Source: Tổ ng cục thố ng kê – Tổ ng điề u tra dân số 2009) Briefly, there are two root factors in recent years that have generated gender disparities in schooling, namely low poor community status and conventional Vietnamese cultural stereotypes The gender disparity which will be narrowed by appropriate polices is addressed in the next section NGUYEN NGOC PHUONG THAO – IEC19PL009 Page 12 II Consequence in Gender Equality The root causes have been mentioned in general with the gender gap in education in Vietnam The gender inequality of women in the aspect of education has many pitiful consequences for their future children If women cannot go to school, specifically, they cannot receive the basic knowledge about reproduction, how to care for the child, how to overcome postpartum depression, how to raise a child for good It is the in-depth knowledge that must be taught from specialized schools that will help women raise their children comprehensively However, it is because of gender inequality that causes high infant mortality and malnutrition to occur every year Moreover, if this situation persists, the country will likely be shortage of female human resources Providing equal opportunities for education between men and women is one of the mission that put on top to help socio-economic development sustainably Indeed, not only does inequality affect individuals, but it hinders the nation's economic development NGUYEN NGOC PHUONG THAO – IEC19PL009 Page 13 III Policy on Expansion of Women's Education Benefit of educational women There are many benefits of educating girls Including:  First, women will gain basic and in-depth knowledge about the care of themselves and their family members through education  Women in rural areas often not go to school, leading to a lack of ability to make decisions and choices that benefit themselves and, most importantly, women here are prone to domestic violence Therefore, education will contribute to helping women solve this problem  In addition, with the constant growth of society, women going to school will be the premise for accessing economic opportunities, empowering and creating their position and influence in society such as self-nominated for important positions in the state apparatus, and so on (Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)) The International Community and Vietnamese Law effect on schooling to raise gender differences a The International Community Organizations of the United Nations (UN) which is “an international organization founded in 1945.” This organization which can tackle the issues for humanity in the 21st century aim at implementing fundamental human rights for everyone, including education According to Article 26 (1) of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights stated that: “Everyone has the right to education Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages Elementary education shall be compulsory Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.” (UN) Moreover, the commitment to gender equality in Millennium Development Goals (MDG) contained eight goals associated with “combating disease, hunger, poverty, illiteracy, discrimination against women, and environmental degradation.” One of the MDGs is to achieve gender equality and empowerment of women In more, there is positive association between gender equality and national development If women access high education, they are able to seek NGUYEN NGOC PHUONG THAO – IEC19PL009 Page 14 a high income job opportunity when they are ready to enter the social marketplace In the year 2000, Vietnam has committed to the implementation of Millennium Development Goals More specifically, all the countries aim to remove gender inequality in education by the year 2015 b Law of Gender Equality in Vietnam With decreasing the gender gap between men and women, Article 5, Chapter of the Law on Gender Equality issued in 2006 of the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (VIETNAM, 2006) has defined gender equality: “Gender equality indicates that man and woman have equal position and role; are given equal conditions and opportunities to develop their capacities for the development of the community, family and equally enjoy the achievement of that development.” Gender equality is linked to many factors in society, such as economics, politics, health, social welfare, and education, is equally important This law defines the position and duties of men and women on fairness in social life All men and women have shared the privileges and exposure to the successes of the nation Additionally, Vietnam's policy is considered to give many advantages to those who belong to disadvantaged groups in society such as policies towards ethnic minorities, remote areas, boarding schools, and so on The Education Law has a tendency to amend the law to supplement a number of provisions to ensure gender equality in education, with the target group will be given more priority This law creates conditions for all children living in Vietnam to go to school, can have the opportunity to access new fundamental knowledge, the standard of teaching, in particular, orientation from school for career path in the future For example, Article 10: Rights and obligations to learn of citizens of Education Law in the year 2005 Vietnam's gender equity advancement and the education of women has been important progress According to the Human Developing Index (HDI) which is “a summary measure for assessing long-term progress in three basic dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living A long and healthy life is measured by life expectancy” (UNDP, 2019, p 02) show that as figure from 1990 to 2018, Vietnam which made progress in increasing HDI values reached at nearly 0.7 in 2018 This figure was very close to the countries in the high human development group The line of this group reached at exactly 0.7 (UNDP, 2019) NGUYEN NGOC PHUONG THAO – IEC19PL009 Page 15 Figure The ratio of human development index from 1990 to 2018 (Source: data statistics from UNDP) In addition to the theoretical policy, the Government has adopted appropriate policies to help bring the disadvantaged areas to education in order to reduce the imbalance of national human resources and has issued a policy of tuition exemptions and reductions for children in ethnic minority areas to encourage them to go to school such as Decree 86/2015 / ND-CP NGUYEN NGOC PHUONG THAO – IEC19PL009 Page 16 CONCLUSION In brief, it is a global issue, not just because it impacts people, but also culture and a country's economic growth, and sustainable development of a country This report also presented concrete data on global and Vietnamese gender disparity, demonstrating that this issue was partly fixed, and it was fixed by strategy and legislation that are issued and applied Besides, the article also mentions the causes of this alarming situation and the benefits of providing education for women Therefore, relevant strategies and target targets will be implemented in order to reduce gender disparity in the education fields of Vietnam NGUYEN NGOC PHUONG THAO – IEC19PL009 Page 17 REFERENCES Doanh, Đ (2018, 01 23) Công bố Báo cáo nghiên cứu “Trẻ em nhà trường” Retrieved from Ta ̣p chí Lao Đô ̣ng và Xã Hô ̣i Web site: http://laodongxahoi.net/viet-nam-da-datduoc-nhung-tien-bo-trong-viec-giam-so-tre-em-ngoai-nha-truong-1309030.html GenderStats (n.d.) Gender Inequality in Education Retrieved from Gender Stats Web site: https://genderstats.org/gender-inequality-in-education/ MDG (n.d.) Category: Millennium Development Goals Retrieved from mdgmonitor Web site: https://www.mdgmonitor.org/millennium-development-goals/ Nhãn, L N (2014) Assessing the gender inequity in Vietnam in recent years (2009-2012) Social Science and Humanities, 43 Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) (n.d.) GENDER EQUALITY IN EDUCATION Retrieved from 21stcenturychallenges Web site: https://21stcenturychallenges.org/gender-equality/ Tổ ng cu ̣c thố ng kê (2011) Giáo du ̣c ở Viê ̣t Nam: phân tić h các chỉ số chủ yế u Tổ ng điề u tra dân số và nhà ở năm 2009 UIS (2019) New Methodology Shows that 258 Million Children, Adolescents and Youth Are Out of School UN (n.d.) Article 26 of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Retrieved from United for Human Rights Web site: https://www.humanrights.com/course/lesson/articles-26- 30/read-article-26.html UN (n.d.) Overview Retrieved from United Nations Web site: https://www.un.org/en/sections/about-un/overview/index.html UNDP (2011) Dịch vụ xã hội phục vụ phát triển người Báo cáo Phát triển Con người Việt Nam năm 2011 Chương trình Phát triển Liên Hợp Quốc Tóm lược thơng tin, 03 UNDP (2019) Báo cáo Phát triển người năm 2019 Bất bình đẳng Phát triển người kỷ 21 Báo cáo tóm tắt dành cho Việt Nam 04 NGUYEN NGOC PHUONG THAO – IEC19PL009 Page 18 UNDP (2019) Inequalities in Human Development in the 21st Century Briefing note for countries on the 2019 Human Development Report in Vietnam Retrieved from http://hdr.undp.org/sites/all/themes/hdr_theme/country-notes/VNM.pdf UNESCO (2016, March 02) Twice as many girls as boys will never start school says UNESCO eAtlas launched in advance of International Women’s Day Retrieved from UNESCO: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/singleview/news/twice_as_many_girls_as_boys_will_never_start_school_says_une/ UNFPA (2011, 05) TÓM TẮT MỘ T SỐ CHỈ SỐ PHÂN TÍ CH THEO GIỚI TÍ NH TỪ SỐ LIỆU CỦ A TỔNG ĐIỀU TRA DÂN SỐ VÀ NHÀ Ở VIỆT NAM NĂM 2009 Retrieved from Vietnam UNFPA Web site: https://vietnam.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub- pdf/Sex%20profile_VIE_Final.pdf UNICEF (2018) Gender and education Retrieved from UNICEF DATA for every child: https://data.unicef.org/topic/gender/gender-disparities-in-education/ VIETNAM (2006) The Law on Gender Equality VIETNAM: CHAIRMAN OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY - NGUYEN PHU TRONG NGUYEN NGOC PHUONG THAO – IEC19PL009 Page 19 ... http://laodongxahoi.net/viet-nam-da-datduoc-nhung-tien-bo-trong-viec-giam-so-tre-em-ngoai-nha-truong-1309030.html GenderStats (n.d.) Gender Inequality in Education Retrieved from Gender Stats Web site: https://genderstats.org /gender- inequality-in-education/ MDG (n.d.)... to remove gender inequality in education by the year 2015 b Law of Gender Equality in Vietnam With decreasing the gender gap between men and women, Article 5, Chapter of the Law on Gender Equality... both in Vietnam and other nations will be specified KEYWORDS: gender inequality, gender equality, gender inequality in education, gender gap, men and women, Vietnam, in the world NGUYEN NGOC PHUONG