Vietnamese women have to spend 5 hours/day on nameless tasks.

On average, Vietnamese women have to spend more than 5 hours a day on "nameless" tasks such as cooking, cleaning, taking care of children, etc., 2 to 2.5 hours more than men each day.

This is the initial result of the research “Making a house a home”, within the framework of the project “Women’s rights: Preventing gender-based violence and promoting women’s political participation” co-funded by Irish Aid and ActionAid Vietnam, implemented in many localities in Vietnam.

Illustration

According to the initial results of the study, in Vietnam, women spend on average more than 5 hours per day on “nameless” tasks such as cooking, cleaning, childcare, etc., 2 to 2.5 hours more than men per day. These tasks are time-consuming, often repetitive and sometimes involve heavy labor, forcing many women to sacrifice many of their other rights. Meanwhile, unpaid care work (CVCSKL) often receives no attention and respect from family members, the community and even from the women themselves.

“Gender inequality is one of the fundamental causes of poverty and injustice. While more than 67% of the world’s poor are women, if unpaid care work is not shared and recognized, more and more women will fall into poverty because they have little (or no) time to take care of themselves, go to paid work or study to expand their knowledge. This affects not only women themselves but also future generations. If we want to solve inequality, we need to start right at home,” said Ms. Hoang Phuong Thao, Chief Representative of ActionAid Vietnam.

Many women feel tired of nameless tasks. (illustrative photo)

The results of the study, conducted in 9 provinces and cities in Vietnam from January to June 2016, not only show a comprehensive picture of the inequality in the implementation of CVCSKL that women have to shoulder, but also provide "telling numbers" about the relationship between CVCSKL and Gross Domestic Product (GDP). A survey by the Swiss Government shows that if CVCSKL in households were included in Switzerland's GDP, the figure would account for 40%. Research in Massachusetts, USA also estimated that including CVCSKL would increase the state's GDP from 352 to 504 billion USD, accounting for nearly 30% of the value of goods and services produced in the state.

In Vietnam, based on the estimated female population of about 44 million people (Nielsen, 2013), there are about 22 million women of working age. Doing a simple multiplication with 5 hours they spend each day on CVCSKL (22 million X 5 hours/day), we get over 110 million hours that women of working age in Vietnam have to spend each day doing this job (equivalent to over 13 million working days). If CVCSKL can be calculated by labor value from 100,000 VND to 150,000 VND/day, then clearly this is not a small number. In 2015, CVCSKL was estimated to contribute more than 20% of Vietnam's total GDP (equivalent to about 41 billion USD).

According to SKDS