women – VIETNAM STAR

Vietnam asks South Korea to protect women from domestic violence

Daisy Nguyen — Tue, 09 Jul 2019 13:52:55 +0000

The Vietnam Embassy in South Korea has asked local authorities to deal strictly with domestic assaults on Vietnamese women.
Referring to a recent case of a South Korean man brutally beating up his Vietnamese wife in front of their toddler son, the embassy called for measures to prevent such incidents from happening to other Vietnamese wives.
The 30-year-old Vietnamese woman is safe and receiving treatment at a local hospital for a fractured rib, which is expected to take four weeks. She has been contacted by the Vietnamese Embassy in South Korea, Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said.
A video published last Saturday shows her 36-year-old husband slapping her, kicking her and repeatedly punching her in the head and stomach for three hours last Thursday at their home in Yeongam, South Jeolla Provinceas.
The beating was witnessed by their two-year-old son who was seen crying loudly beside his mother as she crouched in a corner.
The woman had suffered similar assaults before and this time she decided to record it on her cellphone, South Korean media reported.
She then showed the video to a Vietnamese friend, who reported the incident to the police before uploading the video online, the Vietnam News Agency reported.
The husband was arrested on Sunday and is facing charges of battery and violating the South Korean law on child welfare.
Police said the reason for the assault was that the woman could not speak Korean well. The suspect also reportedly told them that he was drunk when he assaulted her.
Anger and shame
The incident has made headlines in both Vietnam and South Korea, with several petitions being uploaded on the website of South Korea’s Blue House calling for the man to be severely punished. These have gathered tens of thousands of signatures.
On South Korean web portals, many expressed shame and anger, saying they feel guilty and hoping that Vietnamese people don’t assume that all South Koreans are violent.
“[The husband] should rot in jail,” said a comment on the U.S.-based Korean pop blog allkpop.
“The way she held out her arms to comfort her son after being beaten was so heartbreaking. As a mother, I can’t imagine my crying child being inches from me yet unable to hold her for fear of her getting hit too,” wrote another.
Many Vietnamese rallied behind the woman on Vietnamese online platforms, expressing their support and encouraging her to return to Vietnam.
South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon has expressed regret over the brutal assault, saying he was sorry for the incident, Yonhap News Agency reported. Min Gap-ryong, commissioner general of the Korean National Police Agency, has promised a “thorough investigation and rehabilitation for the victim.”
Vietnam has overtaken China as the country sending the largest number of brides to South Korea, according to the South Korean embassy in Hanoi. Around 6,000 Vietnamese women have been marrying South Koreans every year for the last few years.
Many Vietnamese women from poor rural families have been marrying South Korean men in the hope of finding a better life in the wealthy nation. But it has not always been a fairy-tale ending and there have been reports of suicides and fatal beatings.
According to a National Human Rights Commission of Korea survey of 920 foreign brides last year, including those from Cambodia, China, the Philippines, Uzbekistan and Vietnam, 42.1 percent said they had experienced domestic violence and 68 percent had experienced unwanted sexual advances. 20 percent were threatened with weapons and 19 were killed the past 10 years.
Source: Vnexpress

Vietnamese woman trafficked to China returns home after 22 years

Daisy Nguyen — Thu, 04 Jul 2019 15:00:48 +0000

A woman from Vietnam’s deep south, tricked and sold in China in 1997, has returned home and is reunited with her family.
Nguyen Thi Hon, 43, landed in Can Tho City in the Mekong Delta early on Thursday and will return to her hometown in nearby Bac Lieu Province.
Her brother Nguyen Van Tang had traveled to Lang Son Province on the China border in the far north to confirm her identity and bring her home.
Locals in Lang Son found her last month wandering near the Chinese border in panic, as they described it.
She told them she had been lost in China for years and could not find her way back home, and they sent her to the province center for social protection.
Her story was posted on Facebook and shared widely, which enabled her family to find her.
Nguyen Hong Cam, chairwoman of Hon’s hometown, Long Dien Dong Commune in Dong Hai District, said Hon was married and divorced and did not have children.
Due to poverty she left home and went to Can Tho City to look for a living in 1997, and her family lost contact with her.
Later they looked for her far and wide, but could not find her, assumed she had died, and even set up an altar for her.
Earlier this year, when authorities launched a population census, her family reported her as dead.
Cam said: “Hon has several siblings but they are all poor. Her father is dead and her mother is now in her 80s.”
She added that the commune had helped Hon acquire all personal papers again.
Hon told the media that in 1997, while leaving for home from Can Tho, she met a person — whose identity she can no longer recall — who claimed to be from Bac Lieu and offered to take her there.
On the way she was offered some food, and passed out after eating it. When she came around, she was in China.
She was sold to a Chinese man, but after a few years, since she could not have a baby, the man and his family threw her out.
She was homeless for a while before the Chinese police took her to the border gate in Lang Son Province and left her there.
Data from Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security shows that since 2010 there have been over 3,000 cases of human trafficking involving almost 7,000 victims, mostly women and children from poor and rural areas.
A majority were sold to men seeking wives in China, Malaysia and South Korea or just to bear children or forced into prostitution.
China rescued more than 1,100 women trafficked into the country, many of them sold as brides, in a joint operation with Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam between July and December 2018, Chinese police said in a statement last month.
Source: Vnexpress

Women in ‘corpse-in-concrete’ case admit to murder during cult-like activities

Vietnam Star — Sun, 19 May 2019 16:17:38 +0000

Four women who are involved in a ‘corpse-in-concrete’ case in the southern Vietnamese province of Binh Duong have confessed to murder, claiming that they and the victims were Falun Gong followers.
An official from the provincial Department of Police confirmed to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that the suspects had admitted to killing one man, while stating that another had committed suicide.
“We are conducting further investigation to determine the exact role of each woman in the murder, as well as their motive,” the policeman stated.
The four suspects include Pham Thi Thien Ha, 31, her mother, 66-year-old Trinh Thi Hong Hoa, along with Le Phu Hanh, 54, and Le Thi Phuong Thao, 29.
The victims have been identified as Tran Tri Thanh, a Ho Chi Minh City resident, and Tran Duc Linh, who hailed from north-central Nghe An Province.
They were said to be between 30 and 35 years old.

Authorities break concrete at a house in southern Binh Duong Province, where the murder happened, on the night of May 15, 2019. Photo: Ba Son / Tuoi Tre

According to the suspects’ statements, they and the two victims were followers of Falun Gong, a Chinese religious spiritual practice.
Their group rented a house on D2 Street in Ben Cat District, Binh Duong Province to practice the spiritual discipline.
After some members left the group, the other followers decided to relocate to keep their activities a secret.
Ha then rented the house of Nguyen Minh Vuong in Bau Bang District, also in Binh Duong, in October 2018.
During their practices, the two men developed some conflicts with the four women.
One of the men, Linh, eventually committed suicide by jumping off the house roof.
The other members then kept Linh’s body inside a room. As his body began decomposing, they put it into a barrel and covered it tightly with tape.

The house where the bodies were discovered. Photo: Ba Son / Tuoi Tre

After a while, the women thought that Thanh was no longer a suitable member, so they planned on murdering him.
The suspects first rendered him unconscious by electrocuting him, before strangling him to death.
The women also kept Thanh’s body inside a room while they continued their religious exercises.
As the corpse started to smell, they threw it into another barrel and filled it with concrete.
In April 2019, they returned the house to Vuong, who then sold it in May.
The new owner discovered the concrete-filled barrel on Wednesday night and found Thanh’s body as he was breaking up the concrete.
Police officers then searched the house and found Linh’s body the following day.
The women were apprehended on Friday night when they were staying at a hotel in Thu Dau Mot City, Binh Duong, about 50km from the murder scene.
Source: Tuoitrenews

The Power of Women in boosting Vietnam's economy

Dung Duong — Fri, 08 Mar 2019 06:51:04 +0000

As far as Vietnam’s economy is concerned, sisters really are doing it for themselves.

More and more women are running businesses across the country.
There are around 145,000 small-and-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) currently run by women in Vietnam.
Such SMEs businesses play a crucial role for growth, contributing 30 per cent of GDP and more than half of job creation.
And a quarter of all SMEs nationally are run by women.
But it’s not just at the top where women are making a difference.
The World Economic Forum says Vietnam is among the top 25 countries in the world closing the gender gap in the labour force.
Of all woman, 73 per cent are in gainful employment, just 10 per cent lower than their male counterparts.
By 2020, Vietnam wants one million enterprises and of them they are targeting more than a third owned by women.
That means in the next two years, the amount of companies with a woman at the helm will have to increase threefold.
And that’s a challenge.
Last year was a big success for Vietnam’s economy with GDP growth surpassing 7 per cent, but for the first time the number of enterprises going under topped 100,000.

Lack of capital

“My biggest obstacle is the lack of capital. I need cash to purchase merchandise and prevent risks,” Hồ Thị Hải Ngân, an owner of an electronics shop in Đồng Nai Province said.
The 34-year-old businesswoman took time to find her feet.
Her first two commercial ventures failed but it was a case of third time lucky for Ngân in 2016 when she and her husband opened the store.
She borrowed US$25,000 from VPBank with receivables pledged as security helping her explore new corporate clients.
The need for capital is common among SME owners, especially women, who sometimes face roadblocks related to the lack of collateral and have to face conscious and unconscious biases.
Men often have broader vision and better planning skills while women are risk-averse which, in many cases, make them see an opportunity slip away, Ngân said.
“Women cannot go out and drink a lot with clients like men, and in Vietnam, it’s difficult to get clients without drinking,” she said.
“Asian women need time to get used to their role shifting from a housewife to a business owner.”
A market study by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) showed that 70 per cent of Women operated enterprises (WOEs) in developing countries are unserved or underserved by financial institutions. The financing gap is estimated at $1.19 billion for WOEs throughout Vietnam.
“To continue its rapid growth, Vietnam needs to support this sector to access credit and markets. Much more can be done to connect women SMEs to local and global value chains,” said Amy Luinstra, IFC Programme Manager and Gender Advisor, East Asia Pacific.
In the knowledge based economy, female entrepreneurs must also work harder to get capital, Luinstra said, noting that only 7 per cent of private equity and venture capital is invested in women-led companies in emerging markets.
“Women-owned enterprises are an important customer segment of VPBank,” a representative of VPBank said.
“From an entrepreneur perspective, Vietnamese women are active, creative and enthusiastic. They participate in economic activities and are not inferior to men,” he said, citing examples that women are more willing to be housewives in the South Asia, Middle East and Africa.
VPBank in 2018 launched a loan package specifically designed for women-owned businesses and has disbursed 12,000 loans to WOEs so far. Besides, the bank has also built free access to non-financial services for women-led SMEs, enabling them to share experiences with each other and find new networking opportunities for their business.
More than 50 per cent of the bank’s women customers operate in distribution and service industries. “And we find that women are more sensitive than men in terms of service quality and when being satisfied, they are very attached,” the bank’s representative said.

Need government support

Doing business in the time of integration and technological revolution is difficult and this is amplified by the inconsistent and changing legal framework, creating a big obstacle for businesses, according to Hà Thị Thu Thanh, vice president of the Hà Nội Association for Women Entrepreneurs.
In addition, the new era also requires women entrepreneurs to constantly make efforts, be proactive and creative and have strong mind to cope with challenges, Thanh said and added that they needed more support from the Government.
From a businesswomen perspective, Ngân hopes the Government and State agencies support women in explaining and clarifying policies and legal regulations related to their businesses, as well as enable them to participate more in the trade and investment promotion activities organized by the State agencies.
Her successful electronics business told her that, besides funding, the investment in business relationships and exchanges ideas will pave a way for success.
In the meeting with women entrepreneurs early this month ahead of the International Women Day (March 8), Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc reiterated the Government’s support for women-led businesses. He also suggested female entrepreneurs continue learning and enhancing skills, contributing better to the country’s economic development.

– VNS

Korean men prefer Vietnamese women over women of other countries

Vietnam Star — Tue, 04 Dec 2018 14:30:58 +0000

“A lot of Korean men marry Vietnamese women because they prefer them over women of other countries,” said Rep. Lee Hae-chan, chairman of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea during his meeting with a high-level Vietnamese delegation Monday.

Lee was quoted as saying when he met the delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung at his office. The remarks were enough to be interpreted as objectifying women in general, condescending to Vietnamese women, most of whom marry Korean men through international brokers, and, perhaps worse, ranking migrant brides by Korean men’s preference.
According to a report by Oh Young-jin on KoreaTimes, Lee didn’t apologize and there were no reports that the Vietnamese delegates protested.
However, the remarks triggered an outcry from other parties.
“Lee tried to divide some 300,000 biracial households in Korea by race and nation of origin,” the Party for Democracy and Peace said through its spokesman. “We deplore the ruling party’s leader for having such a narrow and distorted view about our diverse families.”
The conservative Bareunmirae Party said, “We demand Lee officially apologize.”
The progressive Justice Party said,” Many Vietnamese brides come to Korea in their early 20s, not even knowing how to speak Korean, and get pregnant, being separated from their families.
“Despite their effort to sustain themselves with a sense of duty to their children, much of Korean society looks down on them,” the party said. “Lee exposed that insensitivity when he said what he thought were pleasantries during his meeting with the Vietnamese delegation.

Vietnam’s breast cancer warriors bare their breasts

Daisy Nguyen — Sun, 04 Nov 2018 13:23:17 +0000

Breast cancer survivors, patients and relatives of those who have died are taking the fight forward by sharing powerful stories.
With her shaven head, Tien Nguyen looks like a young cancer patient.
She’s not.
She’s the sister of a breast cancer patient who died, and now, a sister in the sisterhood that is helping fight the dreaded, deadly disease by sharing their stories and offering both material and psychological support.
In a soft but firm voice, she tells her story, and that of her late sister, Thuong Sobey.
“My sister was diagnosed with BRCA1 and BRCA2 tumor suppressor genes in October 2012, a few days after her wedding day, and later, stage 4 breast cancer,” she said.
Mutations in tumor suppressor genes like the BRCA are considered “high penetrance” as they often result in cancer, though the majority of cancers are not caused by this mutation.
“When Thuong fell ill, newspaper and books I found didn’t have enough information about the disease. I couldn’t find people like me who have family members suffering from this cancer either, so I felt deeply lost.”
Thuong Sobey was married to an Australian man and family support from all sides took her to her husband’s hometown for surgery.
“Not only were patients aided by psychologists and caretakers at the hospital, we as family members were cared for by these staff as well. They even gave us documents to read about breast cancer.
“That was 2013, and Vietnam didn’t have this kind of holistic service,” Tien told VnExpress International.
So the sisters decided to do something about it when they returned from Australia to Vietnam.
There was not much information available online in Vietnamese and relevant knowledge in Vietnamese in print was also too generic in 2012.
The two sisters decided to kickstart a revolution of knowledge about breast cancer in Vietnam.
Founded in March 2013, the Breast Cancer Network Vietnam is a member of the Union for International Cancer Control, which works to increase early detection of breast cancer and to improve the quality of life for women diagnosed with the disease.
“My sister and I started with a website where we uploaded translated information about the illness that we’d got from Australia. We also created a platform on the website where patients of breast cancer and people whose family members are breast cancer patients could get together and support one another.”
Tien did not find doing this easy or rewarding, initially.
Absorbing negativity
“When you work with sick people, it is very easy to take in their negative energy, especially if you are not trained. It’s almost like a give-take game, helpers provide positive energy, patients negative energy.
“While the latter improve thanks to the positivity the former bring, the helpers can easily fall into depression if they don’t know how to deal with the negativity, which was my problem and one of the reasons I tried to quit doing this.”
She quit, and then returned. Today, the co-founder and CEO of Breast Cancer Network Vietnam (BCNV) is a successful activist.
Having come through personal and institutional ups and downs, the network is now a hub of 300-400 breast cancer patients and 5,000 volunteers.
Invaluable support
Tu, a member of BCNV, was diagnosed with stage 3 malignant tumor last April.
She joined the network a couple months ago and appreciates the physical and mental benefits the organization’s activities have given her.
“I came to know about the network through other patient friends. I’ve attended events where doctors share information about cancerous tumors as well as zumba and yoga classes.”
Tu said that most breast cancer patients are closed up and feel low about themselves, so communities like Breast Cancer Network Vietnam and Salt Cancer Initiatives, which she is also a part of, allow them to come out of their illness shells and mingle with others.
Unlike most other women with breast cancer, Tu is a single mother.
Her 10-year-old daughter has been unnerved by the news. The girl had always hated and demonized cancer, having seen several movies where cancer patients are haggard and downcast.
“I didn’t want to hide my illness from my daughter. I wanted her to know what is going on, so she can take care of herself and be more independent,” Tu said.
Because her daughter is worried that Tu would end up like the cancer patients on screen, Tu tries her best to maintain a positive image, depsite several chemotherapy sessions wreaking havoc on her body.
Her daughter has since ceased to be a child, taking caring of Tu.
Hiding and revealing
In contrast to Tu, Mai, another member of BCNV, decided to keep her illness a secret from her daughters, both studying in the U.S. In fact, she learnt of her diagnosis the very day her younger daughter left for the U.S.
Mai, who already had one breast removed, was diagnosed with stage 3 with a malignant 1.5 mm tumor under her right breast in 2015.
When she was hospitalized and could not video-call her daughters, her husband made up stories about Mai going on philanthropy trips.
“My younger daughter would lightly chide me for leaving my husband at home. All my hair fell out because of the chemo, so sometimes when I did talk to her on the phone, I wore wigs.”
At exactly the time she yearned most for her daughters’ hugs and affection, she gave higher priority to their peace of mind.
“One day, my younger daughter, a chemistry student, called me from the U.S., and told me about wanting to do a case study for her research and asked me if I knew any cancer patient who could participate.”
Mai broke down.
Both her daughters were in the same room at that point and it became a emotional watershed moment for all of them.
Mai is grateful that she found BCNV three years ago in her search for information about the disease.
“My right arm hurt like crazy because of the tumor and other things. Thanks to the family (network) members who have gone through this before, I learnt more on how to deal with it,” Mai told VnExpress International.
She also cautioned about the sensitivity and consideration for other patients when sharing one’s own stories.
“I’m lucky to have my husband take care of me and blessed to have knowledge about this disease, but others are not as fortunate. I know of a younger woman whose husband left her a while after she got breast cancer, because he didn’t have the patience and his interest in his wife wore off.
“So I’m always vigilant when sharing my experience and advice with other patients.”
Show you care, donate your hair
To help women deal with the loss of hair as a result of chemotherapy, an event that can be traumatic, given the vulnerable context, BCNV has worked hard to provide wigs that boost both looks and morale.
“We built the wig library in 2013 and gifted the wigs to our members on a first-come, first-serve basis. But they were made of synthetic hair, which is super hot to wear. The hair gets curled up, deteriorates after a while, and cannot be used by a another person,” Tien said.
BCNV switched to real hair wigs in 2015, and began scouting for real hair sources. The production of human hair wigs is a time-consuming and costly process.
Instead of giving away the wigs only to members, BCNV began delivering wigs to different hospitals in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Patients without hair can borrow them and once their hair grows back, pass them onto the next patient in need of a confidence boost. This wig library model has cultivated a culture of sharing among breast cancer patients in Hanoi and HCMC hospitals.
BCNV aims to employ the same model in Nghe An Province, seven hours south of Hanoi, with 50 sets of human hair wigs.
BCNV’s “sharing is caring” culture was evident at the Pink Hat Day 2018 event held in District 7, HCMC, on October 28. The event, which aims to support breast cancer awareness, uses the Vietnamese traditional cone hat as its symbol and sets itself apart from the iconic pink ribbon of breast cancer awareness the world knows.
This year, the event included a booth for hair donation. It attracted a four-year-old hair donor, An Nhien.
Nhu Luong, An Nhien’s mother, said it was her idea to donate her daughter’s hair. But she asked for her daughter’s permission more than a year ago and received her consent.
“She likes to share and help other people. Whenever she has food, she shares it with people around her,” Nhien’s mother said.
When asked if she was scared to have her hair cut, Nhien shook her head. “I’m donating to help sick people who can’t grow their own hair. I’m going to have my hair just like my mom after I donate,” the girl said as her mother and volunteers surrounding her beamed in delight.
A total of 150 people came and gave their hair for charity at the festival, and along with donations from other organizations, 230 hair sets were collected. More than a thousand people attended the event.
Collective effort
It takes more than one organization or person to alert women about this illness that can prove fatal, and inform them how crucial it is to prevent it by having an early screening.
The government has invested more than half a million dollars on a mobile van to provide free mammograms for women across the country.
The campaign, “Breast cancer screening at 40” is coordinated by the Ministry of Health, Bright Tomorrow Fund and Hanoi’s K Hospital. In the October 13-November 3 campaign, it is expected that 8,000 women in the two big cities Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh and nine provinces in the north and central regions will be screened free of charge.
Nguyen Viet Tien, Deputy Minister of Health, said breast cancer can be cured if detected early – the sooner the detection, the easier, cheaper, and more effective the treatment. However, many women in Vietnam do not undergo breast cancer screening due to psychological apprehensions, leading to many cases where the disease has already reached a late stage and treatment becomes more costly and has less chance of succeeding.
Breast cancer also affects men and BCNV’s Pink Hat Day festival also encouraged males to register at its breast screening booth, while attracted many male festival goers.
“I came to this event to understand more about the life and needs of women,” said Nguyen Do Quoc Bao, a 17-year-old male student.
‘Be a warrior, not a worrier’
That was the slogan of the festival, which Tien Nguyen has made her own since her sister passed away.
“I started this network because of the love for my sister. I used to tell her that my commitment to BCNV depended on her, that I would only continue doing this if she took better care of herself,” Tien said.
After Thuong Sobey passed away, Tien left BCNV and went looking for another job. But she did not feel right.
“I felt emotionally heavy and could neither apply myself nor dedicate myself completely to my new job, which was a well-paid one and could provide me a comfortable life in Hanoi.
After three days at my new job, I wrote a long resignation email and sent it to my boss at 2 a.m. on a Sunday morning.”
The boss promptly responded and expressed her faith in Tien’s choice and advised her to follow what her heart said.
In her five-year journey with BCNV, Tien has touched, inspired and been inspired by many individuals.
Mai, the mother who’d kept her illness a secret from her daughters before revealing it in dramatic fashion, did not get a wig from BCNV because her younger daughter returned home and made her mother a wig out of her own hair.
Mai’s hair has grown back now and she has trained her right arm so she indulge in her favorite hobby again – painting. She participated in a free drawing class organized by BCNV in order to improve her skills.
Mai does not think any cancer survivor can fully and eternally recover, because cancer cells might still be lurking in the body and can resurface anytime, anywhere.
But she has learnt to live with it. “A wise and educated woman is one who knows how to take care of herself first,” Mai said.
Younger people are getting breast cancer
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among Vietnamese women. Its incidence has more than doubled over the last two decades from an age-standardized rate of 13.8 per 100,000 women in 2000 to 29.9 per 100,000 women in 2010, according to the World Health Organization.
Each year in Vietnam, nearly 165,000 new cancer cases are detected, of which breast cancer number is over 15,000, or 9.2 percent.
In recent years, younger Vietnamese women are getting breast cancer.
Deputy Health Minister Tien said he has operated on a 9-year-old patient for breast cancer, although such cases are quite rare. Typically, the older the women, the higher the risk.
Mai and Tu are among the few patients who feel comfortable enough to share their stories, and this makes a big difference in the lives of others.
The survivors bring priceless optimism to this fight. Many survivors say breast cancer has uncannily invigorated them and motivated their loved ones.
Her eyes glowing, Mai said: “My younger daughter has decided to enroll in a master’s degree in medical biology to help find ways to cure her mother.”
Source: Vnexpress

Women are more actively pursuing career goals than ever before

Daisy Nguyen — Thu, 08 Mar 2018 08:48:03 +0000

To mark the International Women’s Day (March 8), global professional services firm PwC surveyed over 3,600 professional women aged 28-40 to learn of their career development experiences and aspirations.

The survey included respondents from 27 industry sectors and over 60 countries.

The report, entitled “Time to talk: What has to change for women at work”, reveals that women are confident, ambitious, and ready for what’s next, but many do not trust what their employers are telling them about career development and promotion or what helps or hurts their career.

Although CEOs recognise the importance of being transparent about their diversity and inclusion programmes to build trust, the message is not universal and strong enough.

45 per cent of women believe an employee’s diversity status (gender, ethnicity, age, sexual preference) can be a barrier to career progression in their organisation, and only 51 per cent of women agree that employers are doing enough to progress gender diversity.

This means offering staff a clear understanding of the expectations on both sides of the employment equation, including information about career progression and success, and open conversations with employees on where they stand and what is expected of them to advance.

“Women are confident, ambitious, and actively pursuing their career goals. Leaders should focus on creating an environment where women—and men—can have open conversations where there is clarity on what it takes to progress,” said Bob Moritz, global chairman of PwC.

“This will benefit everyone and will lead to better overall results. It must go hand-in-hand with efforts to mitigate any unconscious biases and gender stereotypes that have traditionally impacted career success and progression in workplaces around the world.”

The survey shows that more women are recognising the need for and the power of advocating for themselves, with over half actively pursuing and negotiating for promotions, pay raises, and the career enhancing experiences so critical for advancement.

Of the 41 per cent of women who have been promoted in the past two years, 63 per cent negotiated for the promotion.

Sharmila Karve, PwC’s global diversity leader, said, “It is really encouraging to see that more and more women are speaking up and proactively going after their career goals. Organisations can do a lot to help women progress and reach leadership positions.”

Almost all surveyed women said working in a job they enjoy (97 per cent) and having flexibility to balance the demands of their career and personal/family life (95 per cent) was important to them.

Getting to the top of their career is important to 75 per cent of women, while 82 per cent are confident in their ability to fulfill their career aspirations.

However, women feel nervous about the impact starting a family might have on their career (42 per cent) and 48 per cent of new mothers felt overlooked for promotions and special projects upon their return to work.

Meanwhile, 38 per cent of all women in the survey feel that taking advantage of work-life balance and flexibility programmes has negative career consequences at their workplace. There is a clear concern over what women see as a motherhood and flexibility penalty.

The report puts forward three essential elements that leaders must focus on to help women advance in their career: transparency and trust, strategic support and life, family care and work.

“Creating gender diversity throughout the workplace is one of the biggest challenges for business leaders. Yet it is vital to helping organisations drive innovation and gain competitive advantages,” Brittany Chong, partner and Diversity and Inclusion leader at PwC Vietnam, commented.

“Vietnam has made impressive progress on gender equality, with high participation of women in the labour force. However, since traditional gender roles still pose a big barrier to many women when balancing their personal and career priorities, there is a need for continuous progress.”

Source: Anh Duc