Let’s Talk About Women

OK disclaimer here, this is my impression based on what I have seen and what Trinh (and now Kylie) has told us, plus what the guidebook has said.  If I have it all wrong, that is also on me.  Also, we have only been in Hanoi and in the mountains, so it may be different in the south than in the north.  

First of all, while we are staying in the old town part of Hanoi, which is a rabbit warren of tiny streets with interesting old traditions like whole streets that retain the guild practice of what is sold on them (silver, housewares, clothing, and more), in general, Hanoi is a fairly wealthy city.  Trinh tells us that the government tends to spend more on infrastructure development in Hanoi as it is where the seat of the government is.  You can see some very fancy buildings, with recognizable Western brand names, like Ritz Carlton.  And department stores with all the foo foo designer brands on the outside:  Gucci, Chanel, Dior, Cartier and so on.  There is definitely a Westernization in how young women dress.

One of the things that is all the rage with the young women (not men, just women) is to dress in a fancy dress (sometimes more Western, sometimes traditional), and pose, with someone taking their photo.  Trinh calls them the Tik Tok girls.  It is super popular to go to a fancy restaurant, or hotel or other scenic spot, pose and post your shot.  Not sure what else is included in that.  The vibe is that there is a strong push to be pretty, a certain kind of pretty.  And representing a traditional look is valued.  

Second impression is from a poster that I saw in the Hanoi Hilton.  We toured this 2 days ago, and the proper name is Hoa Lo Prison.  This was thusly nicknamed by American POWs who were making a wry commentary about the harsh conditions in the prison.  It has a fair amount of propaganda (or, differing perception) in the museum there, speaking about how the POWs were treated.  But the museum also spoke of the political prisoners who were held there in the many decades before the 1960’s.  Men and women were incarcerated there and conditions were harsh.  OK, that was all a lead up to a poster that I saw speaking of the female prisoners.  Men, of course, were characterized as brave and stalwart, that sort of thing.  Women on the other hand, were characterized in the exhibit “Live Like Flowers” to be modest yet beautiful, mothers and sisters and more analogies to flowers.  

Third impression:  it is a strong value for women to be as pale as possible.  They dress modestly as is the culture, but take it further and wear garments when outside that shield their skin from the sun.  This leads to some measures to cover hands, necks, faces, and such.  Now, caveat, not all women dress this way, but it is quite common to see women, especially on motor-scooters, wearing these cover ups.  

What you cannot see from this image is the neck, hand and face coverings she was wearing. 

Now, this evening we went on a foodie tour (see next blog post) and Kylie, our guide is 23.  So she shared that yes, there is pressure to get married and so on, from her family.  But she also notes that divorce rates are high in Vietnam so the younger generation often are waiting now.  And there are much better job opportunities for women as well, so they are more easily able to get good jobs which earn well.  Having said that….unmarried women still live with their families and have to support their family and siblings when they do earn.