It’s twilight, the end of the work day for migrant shoe seller Vu Thi Soi, although she is not happy with the outcome.

"I only sold a couple of pairs today, less than other days. In any case, it’s time to go home now," Soi says, clutching her shoe push-cart as she heads to her rented home in Dinh Cong Ward, Ha Noi.

Hailing from northern Nam Dinh Province, the 29-year-old woman has been in the capital for three years to earn a living.

It’s common these days to encounter rural women like Soi making their way around big cities, either as street vendors, domestic cleaners or waitresses.

Living in a country greatly influenced by Confucianism, Vietnamese women often occupy a position lower than men at every level. Typical women were known only as mothers and mothers-in-law within their family while men were responsible for making the money to feed the family.

The gender role, however, is changing, with more and more women becoming family breadwinners.

"My husband stays at home for his job as a river fisherman. He also takes care of our three-year-old daughter," Soi says.

"What he earns is meagre, but enough for our daily needs.

"My work is very hard, but I have to earn more money to save up for a new home."

Soi estimates it will take her at least 10 years to save VND100 million (US$5,700), enough to buy a house of "common quality" at her current monthly earning level of VND1 million ($57).

Equal role

The country’s economic growth in recent years has provided both men and women with economic opportunities, one of the key factors to reduce gender disparities.

Figures provided by the Viet Nam Development Report 2004 show that labour force participation rates for women in Viet Nam are among the highest in the world, at 83 per cent for the 15 to 60 age group. The rate among men is 85 per cent.

"Taking into account those rates, the women’s role in the country’s economy is high," says United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Viet Nam Representative Bruce Campbell.

Campbell also praises Viet Nam for having "a strong record on the promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment."

He says the record is manifested in the constitution and legal frameworks, particularly two recent laws, the 2006 Law on Gender Equality and the 2007 Law on Preventing and Combating Domestic Violence.

Implementing equal roles in labour and employment for women is the first out of five targets Viet Nam has striven for in the national action plan for the advancement of women between 2006-10.

"The number of women participating in the labour force is on the rise year after year," says Pham Nguyen Cuong, vice director of the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) Department of Gender Equality.

She attributes the increase to encouragement from legal decisions and the implementation of socio-economic development policies.

Cuong says that women’s participation in the labour market is significant given that it creates chances for them to escape poverty and improve their access to better education and information.

"It will ultimately benefit their children and society as a whole."

Campbell says that although income earned by women accounts for only 71 per cent of men’s, "Viet Nam is far better than countries such as Malaysia (36 per cent) and even Japan (44 per cent), according to United Nations Development Programme’s Development Report 2006."

"It’s a very good indicator," he says.

Besides taking an active socio-economic role, Vietnamese women are also hailed for their political activities.

"Viet Nam has the highest proportion of women in Parliament in East Asia and the Pacific. Worldwide, Viet Nam also performs well, with the 18th highest proportion of women parliamentarians," Campbell says.

He is also optimistic about the progress Viet Nam has made in attaining the Millennium Development Goal 3, which aims to promote gender equality and empower women by 2015.

"Viet Nam is well on its way to achieving its goal of eliminating gender gaps in primary and secondary education, and has already achieved a gender-balanced youth literacy rate."

The country’s statistics show that 91 per cent of girls and 92 per cent of boys attended primary and secondary schools in 2006.

In tertiary education, women now outnumber men, according to UNFPA Viet Nam.

Unequal playing field

The Vietnamese Government, the UN and non-government organisations in Viet Nam recognise a number of challenges the country faces to ensure sustainable gender equality.

Legislation is existing, but "implementation of laws in provinces, districts, communes and at the household level is much more important," says Campbell.

"Additional support is required to raise awareness and capacity of local authorities and law enforcement officers.

"We had already had requests for that support," he says.

Research carried out by ActionAid Viet Nam (AAV) last December found that there is a low rate of women participating in leadership and management roles at the commune level.

One of the reasons for that, according to AAV’s Women’s Rights Co-ordinator Ha Thi Quynh Anh, is the lack of due attention from local authorities, which in turn is largely influenced by the traditional stereotype that women should stay at home.

Cuong from MoLISA says the stereotype is the biggest challenge that Vietnamese women face.

"The question should be how to invest in changing society’s perception of women’s roles," she says.

Campbell is more concerned with the unequal results the economic growth has brought about for women as compared to men.

"The playing field is not level, and women are not yet able to compete on equal terms with men.

"Men benefit more from jobs with decision-making power and status. Issues such as relatively lower wages and higher wage gaps in the private sector will impact more and more women in the future."

Vietnamese women are also among the most vulnerable to the ongoing global economic downturn, according to Campbell.

"They are some of the first to be unemployed, some of the first to be forced to migrate from one sector to another, or from urban back to rural," he says.

The Vietnamese Government and the UN have developed an ambitious $4.5 million joint programme on gender equality.

The programme brings together 12 UN agencies in Viet Nam to provide technical assistance to the Government to better implement Gender Equality and Domestic Violence laws.

To Soi and many other domestic migrant women, challenges are always imminent.

"Living far from home, we are rather disadvantaged. We live and eat every day in very temporary conditions. We lack family connection," she says.

She does not mention, but many studies have discovered that urban life can pose many threats to them, including diseases and abuse.