In the broader research on gender, there is regular criticism of the way “gender” is too often and too exclusively discussed with reference to white women and/or to women who work in the global north (also sometimes referred to as the “developed world”). This criticism seeks to point out that ideas about gender ignore the lived experiences of women of colour and women in the global south (or “developing nations”). We can extend on this to include men too. What it means to be a man and to work as a man in Australia, for example, is going to be very different to what it means to be a man and to work as a man in China. Too often, we discuss “gender in the workplace” as if it is a singular issue, and as if it is understood and experienced by all people in the same way. This is not the case.
Gareth Durrant is an Australian expat working as a Business Development Advisor at Marie Stopes International in Vietnam. We have invited Gareth to answer some questions about gender in the workplace and to explain the work he is doing in this area.
Briefly explain an average workday for you. What kinds of work do you do?
A lot of my day is spent communicating with our external stakeholders, donors, and other NGO partners and corporates. I write proposals and also design sexual and reproductive health programs. Internally, I liaise with the project teams who are responsible for the implementation of those programs
Where does gender come into this?
Obviously any sexual and reproductive health program would be pretty ineffective if it ignored they way men and women relate, self-identify, behave, and perform. So an example of this is would be if I designed a program to address condom and contraceptive use and negotiation within couples. If I ignored the relationship between a woman and her mother-in-law, it would miss the mark. The issue is not condoms and contraceptives; it is son preference.
On a more macro level there is the gendered way that aid, as a mechanism and development in general, can work. Aid programs that are not participatory and women-led essentially tell women what to produce, when, and how. They can also exacerbate the triple burden women face in terms of paid work, unpaid work, and reproduction. When we talk about empowerment and particularly when we talk about the economic empowerment of women, we need to ask the question who is doing the empowering, and reflect on why.
Lastly, I am a queer cis white male who works in the area of safe abortion and family planning. I obviously bring my own experiences to the work I do. This includes body politics, body autonomy, sex positivity, third-wave feminism, and queer theory. It doesn’t include a lived experience of reproduction, abortion, or abortion stigma. So I consider myself a reproductive rights ally similar to how a straight person might identify as an ally on the topic of marriage equality or LGBT rights.
In your work with factory workers in Vietnam, what are some of the gender issues that you see as problematic?
Many of the factory workers in Vietnam are migrants who end up working in factories far away from home where they are subject to excessive work hours, poor working conditions, poor quality housing, and are vulnerable to sexual exploitation and gender-based violence, and unwanted pregnancy as well as HIV/STIs.
In terms of HIV/STIs and unwanted pregnancy the driving factor is access (i.e., health centres at the factory do not offer sexual and reproductive health services or they are offered but inappropriate). This often means the clinics are perceived to lack basic quality, confidentiality, or privacy.
Gender-based violence is often framed in terms of husbands, fathers, family, and community (and rightly so). However, migrant women are specifically vulnerable while away from home work due to their isolation and lack of social support. We can then add to this a largely male cohort of managers, who at the very least may lack the capacity to address violence, or actively condone and perpetrate violence towards women in the workplace. A specific example would be sexual coercion—the expectation that sex will be exchanged for preferential shift or a day off. Women’s groups may also normalise violence if harmony within the workplace is promoted over individual rights.
That said, I don’t want to paint all young migrant factory workers as lacking agency. My experience so far suggests that there is a lot of resilience and strength. Recently we did a baseline survey of knowledge, attitude, and practice of female migrant workers in two particular factories in Vietnam. Over half had basic knowledge of STIs and understood how to prevent them. Just over 90% of those surveyed knew that HIV was sexually transmitted. Between 91 and 94% percent of women knew the number of recommend health checks during pregnancy, the necessity of regular single radial haemolysis (SRH) tests, and the role of regular SRH care for women and its benefits. This says to me they are informed.
Over 88% said they had the ability to negotiate sexual and reproductive health decisions within their relationships with boyfriends or husbands. This says to me they are empowered and taking charge of their sexual health at least within the context of their immediate partnerships. Again, the issue is having access to sexual and reproductive healthcare rather than say confidence or knowledge.
Have you identified any different approaches to addressing gender issues in Vietnam than you might expect to see in Australia?
There is a lot of good work being done in the private sector in terms of gender mainstreaming within OHS, work policies, and corporate social responsibility strategies of companies working in Vietnam. The European Union has been a big proponent of this through their gender equality programme for Vietnam. The donor landscape is such that social and economic empowerment of women is a key priority, as is private partnerships. Migrant factory workers in situations of marginalisation intersect with these priorities. However it isn’t all external or donor driven. Workers themselves, the Vietnamese government, and transnational corporations are pushing for better policies and standards that reflect the needs of this largely female workforce. I’m not sure to what extent this is being done, or has been done in Australia. Rights-based approaches, structural reform, women’s unions and labour movements are pretty universal.