Gender Identity and Agency in Migration Decision-Making: Evidence from Vietnam

Abstract

This paper examines the influences of gender as an identity on an individual's ability to exercise agency in decision-making about internal migration in Vietnam. Women and men exert agency with reference to prevailing social norms in order to negotiate for or against their own migration and that of others. It has been well recognised that, beyond sex, their specific gender identity as mothers or fathers, daughters or sons, husbands or wives, etc. impacts on who can migrate for what kind of work. However, this study explores the more neglected ways in which gender structures migration. While my findings show that decision-making about migration was overwhelmingly consensual in nature, this did not necessarily mean that migration was equally in everyone's best interests. Women's agency around their own migration was in part constrained because they were forced to negotiate for their interests whilst trying to preserve family harmony. While social norms supported men's power to make unilateral decisions and while they resorted to powerful threats of divorce to get their own way, this did not prevent wives from resisting unwelcome decisions by ‘passive' means. The paper deepens feminist insights into the ways in which migration is gendered.

Keywords:

• Gender
• Identity
• Agency
• Migration Decision-Making
• Social Norms
• Vietnam

Notes

1. The economic reforms introduced by the government of Vietnam in 1986 (often known as Ðôi Mói or renovation) initiated a transition from a centrally planned economy to a market economy with socialist direction. In this new era, the state plays a decisive role in the economy but private enterprise and cooperatives play a significant role in commodity production.

2. Hô khâu (similar to hukou in China) is the system of household registration used for the purposes of identification, police work, migration control and eligibility for state employment.

3. The official statistics just account for registered movements, as large numbers of temporary and seasonal migrants do not register their moves with the local authorities.

4. To protect participants’ privacy, their names and the name of the research site have been changed.

5. Thang Loi Village socio-economic report for the 1998–2002 period.

6. Decree No. 13/NQ-DU on agricultural production in the 2004 spring crop by the Nam Cuong Commune Communist Party.

7. An ADB (2002) report indicates that, between 1993 and 1998, the number of male farmers fell by 0.3 per cent annually while the number of female farmers increased by 0.9 per cent. During this period 92 per cent of all new entrants to the agriculture sector were women.

8. Nam Cuong Commune 2005 socio-economic report.