The Vietnamese Women's Museum in Hanoi pays a well-deserved
homage to the slightly over 50% of the country's population who in many other parts
of the world do not get the recognition for their tireless contribution to
national well-being and welfare. More than 70% of women hold a job in Vietnam, a
percentage that is much higher than in most countries around the globe.
The Museum does, however, provide little information about
this high participation rate. Most likely because the display of this would
lack visual attractiveness—visitors of the museum, any museum in fact, quite
understandably, want to see more than statistics, diagrams, histograms, graphs and
charts.
The Vietnamese Women's Museum, in its very well organised
and displayed presentations, thus presents Women in History on one floor, and ethnic
minority groups, with emphasis on the role of women, on another.
Vietnam is a multi-ethnic country. Some 86% of its
population of 90m, belong to the Viet, also called the Kinh group. It is safe
to assume that the people one meets in Hanoi, Ho Chi Min City (formerly
Saigon), Danang, Hue, or other towns in the flat coastal areas, are Kinh. The
highlands of the interior, especially in the central and northern parts of the
country, are, however, the original homes of the minority groups, 53 of which
are recognised as separate ethnic communities with their own language,
traditions and culture. The French had called these groups collectively
Montagnard, but their individual names range from Tày, at 1.7m people the
largest minority group, to O' Đu or Brâu, the smallest, with fewer
than 400 members each.
A striking feature of
the Montagnard is that the women are seemingly as doing all the work. At home
they care for the children and prepare the meals, the ingredients for which
they obtain from fishing, foraging and their fields they have ploughed, planted
and harvested. They bring the crops in from the field, take care of storage and
tend to the animals. They dye and embroider the cloth from which the clothes
are made they wear… interestingly, these traditional dresses are worn at work, at
home and when relaxing, if there ever is such a moment!
Women at work
Many of the ethnic minorities are matrilineal societies. Daughters are preferred and ownership of land follows the female line, while often the youngest daughter inherits all. Such a nice touch… rather than the oldest son being presented with the lot.
The Women in History
section on the floor above concentrates on the role women played in the battle
for the reunification of the country: which
could not have been won without the silent sacrifices of the women whose
children and husbands died for the Motherland. In recognition of their
sacrifices the Permanent Committee of the National Assembly established the
honorary title of Heroic Mothers of Vietnam, granted to women who had lost more
than two children, their only child, only one child, or their husband and
children, or their own life. In December 2008, almost 50,000 women received the
title. Nguyen Thi Thu of Quang Nam lost ten children and two grandchildren;
Pham Thi Ngu and Nguyen Thi Ram of Ho Chi Minh City lost eight children and
were also awarded 'Hero of the Popular Armed Forces'.
Photos of Heroic Mothers
The popular Army or Guerrilla Forces had been founded in the villages to fight against enemy raids and destroy enemy posts. Nearly one million women participated, the largest group of which consisted of 7,365 women. This group fought 680 battles, destroyed 13 enemy posts and killed or captured 383 enemy soldiers.
Women involved in civil resistance undertook many key roles,
including care of wounded soldiers, supply of troops and financial and food
requisitioning. For the Dien Bien Phu campaign alone, women donated 2,381,000
workdays to the transportation of food and arms.
A most remarkable example of this is the 'Human Bridge'
which was recorded in 1968 during the Tet Offensive by Pham Thin. The battle
took place in Tan Bien District Tay Ninh Povince. Many soldiers were wounded
and the section of young volunteers C2012 were in charge of transporting the
wounded to the rear. A heavy unexpected rainfall flooded the normally dry Ba
Chiem River. Complying with the directive 'Do not let the wounded get wounded
twice' the volunteer girls went into the river to make a human bridge in order
to carry the injured to secure areas.
Human Bridge
In the South women represented 40% of the guerrilla and militia forces. Female artillery groups destroyed planes, 105mm artillery guns and fuel stores. In Hue a group of 11 female militia members defeated a battalion of marines killing more than 100 GIs.
Many posters
revealing the double-function of women are displayed, together with photographs
of women performing what could be typical daily task, were it not for the rifle
strapped to their back.
The two posters below
show the female guerrillas being trained and in their roles of providers of the
food to keep the nation going, combined with that of defenders of the country.
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