Developing indicators to assess women's empowerment in Vietnam
Santillan, D.; Schuler, S.R.; Hoang, T.A.; Tran Hung, M. Quach Thu, T. Nguyen Minh Duc
Development in Practice 14(4): 534-549
2004
ISSN/ISBN: 0961-4524 DOI: 10.1080/09614520410001686124Document Number: 234327
From mid-1999 to mid-2001, a qualitative study was carried out in rural Vietnam to explore relationships between gender equity and reproductive health. Semistructured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 57 married women, between the ages of 22 and 52 years, and 13 of the women's husbands. One of the study's objectives was to develop culturally appropriate indicators of women's empowerment, specific to the Vietnamese context. This paper describes the process of developing, testing, and refining the empowerment indicators, presents some of the findings, and discusses the methodological challenges that need to be addressed. The paper concludes by recommending a set of Vietnam-specific domains for assessing women's empowerment in the socio-economic sphere as well as in reproductive health.