HAPPY VIETNAMESE WOMEN’S DAY: FLOWERS AND GIFTS

Women of Vietnam have two holidays to celebrate – Mother’s Day, coinciding with International Women’s Day and Vietnamese Women’s Day. The latter, that falls on October 20 every year, has a significant importance for the Vietnamese women.
On October 20, 1930 the women of Vietnam united against imperialism and created a special organization, that later became known as the Vietnam Women’s Union. This movement was supported by the Communist Party of Vietnam and it designated October 20 to be anniversary of this organization and honor the Vietnamese women.Though this is not a public holiday but Vietnam Women’s Day is celebrated grandly throughout the country.

Vietnam is a country where women had to fight many wars to establish themselves and secure their rights. An old Vietnamese saying : “One boy, that’s something; ten girls that’s nothing”and another: “When the enemy is at the gate, the woman goes out fighting” are enough to explain how women used to be treated here and how they have fought their way out of oppression and ill-treatment to a better world with gender equality and better facilities. Till today Vietnamese consider ‘beauty’ as a more important achievement for women as compared to their political engagement, intelligence, compassion, or ambition.

Overcoming the sour past sure was a difficult task for the women of such a chauvinist country. One of the main problems that Vietnamese women face is gender inequality. Women are often mistreated, misbehaved and neglected. But with continuous years of tumult and protests, women of Vietnam eradicated the most unfair practices and norms; and today Vietnamese women enjoy freedom and equal rights to a great extent though not as much as the other open societies. To this day many people here consider women as an object for men’s enjoyment. Even, This year the Forbes list named Cao Thi Ngoc Dung, Chair and CEO of Phu Nhuan Jewelry (PNJ), Ms. Mai Kieu Lien, Former Chair of the Vietnam Dairy Products JSC (Vinamilk) and Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, President and CEO of Vietjet Air. That is why on this day women voice their resentment and antipathy to all the sexist and unjust thoughts.

So, We are men and what are things to do on women’s day in Vietnam?
Actually, there are lots of things for Vietnamese men to show their love to women this day. For those being in love, the day is something like another Valentines Day. The man usually buys a beautiful bunch of flowers, a meaningful gift for his sweetheart and takes her to go out for a romantic evening. For the married couples, the husband gets into the kitchen and cooks a special dinner for the whole family or take the family to eat out. Man is in charge of all the housework (like cooking, cleaning the house, caring the kids, etc.) and of course Vietnamese women often receive beautiful roses, post cards, lots of gifts with the best wishes from their lovers, husbands, male colleagues, friends or relatives on this Vietnamese Women’s Day.

Happy Women’s Day 2016 in Vietnam!