Bilateral Social Pattern and the Status of Women in Traditional Vietnam

Abstract

This paper argues that the kinship system in traditional Vietnam was bilateral — such that, for example, children maintained a close relationship with both the father's and the mother's family — even under the influence of Confucian morality. It is true that in ancient times, matrilineality was more common, while patrilineality became dominant in the later period: but the two systems long co-existed. The bilateral kinship system was, in turn, closely related to the relatively high social position of women in Vietnam, as indicated, for example, in the practices governing inheritance of family property and succession to ancestor worship. The paper rests on the broader view that Confucian influence in Vietnam — emphasizing a male-oriented family morality — was confined to a small number of the ruling class until the modern period.