Gender and Technology Policy in Vietnam

Abstract

This paper seeks to contribute to the debate on Vietnam’s economic renovation program by exploring the thus far neglected relationship between gender and technology. It shows how the sequencing of reforms since 1986 have not adequately paid attention to this relationship. While much emphasis has been placed on gender equality as a matter of principle, policy practices have neglected the gender barriers that minimize women’s access to employment, training and technology. Vietnam’s policy choice of export-led development, which is different from that based primarily on technology transfer through import, needs to be reinforced by a framework for understanding gender relations, technology and development. Such an understanding is urgently needed given (a) the significant role of the familymanaged agricultural sector and the small-scale industrial sector in generating income and employment on a national scale, and (b) the concentration of female labor in these two sectors. Some conceptual and methodological issues are raised to develop a research and policy agenda.