Vietnam Women's Union

Currently, the Vietnam Women's Union is composed of four national levels, with elections held every five years: • The central level; Complete with one president and four vice presidents. • The provincial/municipal and equivalent level (the called “provincial level”); Divided by Vietnamese provinces complete with one president and a supportive congress. • The district/precinct/provincial capital and equivalent level (the called “district level”); Regional leaders and cadre leaders for each regional headquarters. • The commune/ward and equivalent level (the called “grassroots level”). Commune and Cadre leaders for individual villages and cities. The highest body of the Union is the National Women's Congress. The leading body of the Union at each level is the Congress of Delegates or the Plenary Congress of all members at that level. A more detailed organizational chart of the Vietnam Women's Union can be found on their website. Announcement of the five year goals and campaigns for the VWU are announced after the elections, and again annually should there be any changes or additions to the planning systems of the union. This is why the public announcement of planning goals are often announced in the year following the elections. ==History of the VWU’s “socialist femininity”==

During French Colonialism to the Vietnam War The idea of nationhood in Vietnam was popularized with women through the unity against a common enemy. By uniting against colonists—promoting the idea that the oppression of women was a necessary facet of colonial rule and that only with the overthrow of capitalist systems could women achieve equality, communists had immediate access to the social influences of women in Vietnam. Women were considered such a latent force in the Communist movement with the social unrest of women, who are generally considered to be the most exploited in all class structures and therefore more likely to support a restructuring of national rule. The Party's driving propaganda during the Vietnam War (1955-1975) was the idea that women's liberation was completely inseparable from a total social revolution. While the Party did have inefficiencies in the actual implementation of the revolutionary ideals for women in society, Considering the entwined nature of women and the party, the origin of feminine nationalism was built around creating Party support and ensuring a woman's place in the new social structure during and after the revolution. This is especially prevalent during the war period with the idea of a new modern national female—one who fought her oppressors and would even engage in combat for the good of the nation. Modern conflicts in Vietnamese womanhood The modern constraints on the concept of feminine nationalism is the change in national priorities for women in relation to social gender equality in religion, media, and political institutions. While purely Vietnamese nationalism is still prevalent in local events, the impact of capitalist systems is unavoidable in both national image and social institutions. Women are fighting a catch-22 situation in terms of nationalism and political participation. If women act with traditional values, it is seen as being feudalistic, un-nationalist, and a personal fault for refusing to modernize, but if independent the nation paints women as too western, anti-nationalist, and distinctly un-Vietnamese. Multiple studies have focused on the legitimacy of national VWU data and the efficiency of grassroots implementation for health services through cadre implementation—all resulting in inconclusive data. And as the union was created by the state, for the state, the data and regional work may be contested. power of the VWU as well as the lasting effects of their organizational implementations. While the VWU is promoted as a government agent of change and the Party's flagbearer of gender equality, they are accused of propagating the same dichotomy and insistence for social constructs in their policy that causes the dichotomous and unattainable images of nationalist and feminine ideals. In a targeted study on the effects of VWU policies on the livelihoods and lasting social changes on rural Vietnamese women, the VWU can symbolize the greater intentions of the Party and government to treat women as a symbol of national progress, but their implementation lacks follow-through and efficient implementation. As a state body, the necessity of the VWU working towards both the promotion of equality in government and maintaining the stance of a pro-government directly limits their efficiency of implementation and turns the body into a factory of propaganda—limiting the power to make lasting change in the nation as well as bringing the results of governmental evaluations of the body into question for validity. == Name changes ==

The VWU has gone through several name changes since its initial foundation to better reflect the changing focuses of the organization's support. From 1931-1945 the title was the “Liberation Women’s Union” with a primary focus on rallying support for the Communist Party of Vietnam and the North Vietnam regime in the populace and combat the French colonialists in the Southern region. From 1936-1938 the name changed to the “Anti-Imperialism Women’s Union” to show their support of the Communist regime and to bring women together in opposition to the American involvement in the Vietnam War. The name again changed in 1939 until 1940 to the “Democratic Women’s Union” as well as the “Women’s League for National Salvation” during the remainder of the war until the final name change to the Vietnam Women's Union in 1950 at the first National Women's Congress. At this point, the VWU officially encouraged members to actively participate in nation building processes and support of the government through anti-French and Imperialist resistance in all aspects of their lives. Originally grown from a grassroots organization, the changing ties to the political governance in the modern union and conflicting ideologies of the union has led to a top-down implementation method for the dissemination of information. ==Timeline of policy and goals==

1955–1975 The goals of the VWU during the 1950s to 1970s were to liberate South Vietnam from United States forces and Imperialist control, to enforce "the campaign of 5 goods", and to promote the social campaign of women's 3 abilities. The campaign of 5 good refers to a social emphasis that women should participate in all aspects of the state and house, and do all responsibilities well. The 5 goods are in reference to the duties of a woman, a mother, a wife, a citizen, and a Vietnamese citizen. Each of these "goods" are descriptive of a communist Vietnamese woman, and were formatted around the ideology of the "feminine socialist" that the government was currently promoting through the VWU. "The campaign of 3 abilities” specifically planned the involvement of women during war-time, that the women should take over all jobs left by men in the war, encourage all of their male relatives to join the army, and to at all times support soldiers and even participate in combat if necessary. The Party has also worked with the VWU to pull women into positions of power in the new political spheres. With the 1968 mandate that women must account for at least 30% of personnel under government organization, women and their unique concerns are increasingly being drawn onto the political stage of Vietnam. 1976–1985 In 1976, the VWU launched a new social campaign: "New women in the national construction and defense" to promote women's involvement in nation building and social restructuring during the unification and revolution era. During this period, there was still relatively constant promotion of the “5 goods” of Vietnamese women, and the creation of separate ideologies for Vietnamese women and Vietnamese nationalists. These campaigns focused mainly on the development of women as heads of households in communities and trying to increase the national health and literacy percentages. These were mainly implemented through increased access to education at village levels, with budgeting classes and various informational activities designed to help women lead their household and take care of children in and out of poverty. During the 1990s, the VWU was relatively quiet in their work, with a focus on building internal infrastructure within the nation at both provincial and cadre levels. 1997–2002 The new social movements for the 8th national congress were "Women’s mutual assistance for household economic development and savings for national construction" expanding the VWU into grassroots campaigning through cadres. This new campaign aimed to provide education and training to women in poverty focused on handling household finances and maintaining childhood safety. 2002–2007 In 2007, the VWU received public notice from the late President Hồ Chí Minh, who announced that "The beautiful country of Vietnam has been built and woven by the women, both young and old, with their heartfelt efforts to become more wonderful". For women in grassroots areas and in response to the criticisms of unfair standards promoted in their ideal of socialist Vietnamese women, the VWU also began a social program in hopes to have women nurture their “self-confidence, self-respect, kind-heartedness and resourcefulness.” The VWU's focuses, broadly, for this term are on improving the efficiency of supervising law implementation that help address essential issues of women and improving the quality of the VWU’s performance at grassroots level and their involvement within the core of the VWU. == References ==