Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T22:53:33.475Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - The Redivision of Labour in a Red River Delta Village in a Globalized Economy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2015

Nguyen Phuong Le
Affiliation:
Hanoi University of Agriculture
Get access

Summary

Vietnam's rural population is changing enormously as the country increasingly integrates with the global economy. Some of the most radical of these changes are occuring in migration patterns, a redistribution of labour, and the status of women. This chapter aims to analyze these changes in greater depth by investigating a traditional craft village in northern Vietnam. How have livelihoods transformed in the craft village? What are the mechanisms of migration into and out of the village? How are gender divisions of labour changing in the village?

This great transition in agricultural livelihoods in Vietnam began earlier, of course, starting with initial decollectivization in the early 1980s and more recent acceleration via land reforms in the early 1990s. In the Red River Delta region, where the field research for this chapter was carried out, rural livelihoods have been transformed further by state rural industrialization policies, especially those aimed at reviving and developing traditional craft villages. As the slogan goes, “leaving the rice field, but not the countryside” (ly nong bat ly huong). As a result, rural people no longer rely on farming as a sole source of income, and their livelihood strategies have increasingly focused on non-agricultural activities.

Under Doi Moi's move toward a market-oriented economy, state regulations on rural labour have been loosened so that people can independently make decisions about their occupations and workplaces. Thus, Doi Moi policies have also propelled domestic labour migration flows. Labour migration patterns have become complex as can be seen in the case of traditional craft villages such as Kim Thieu in the Red River Delta where my research was conducted; not only do villagers migrate to work and do business elsewhere, including inland and abroad, but a number of migrants from other regions come to make their living in these villages as regular/long-term or casual contract labourers. Labour relations have also become more complex, with several concurrent and sometimes contradictory systems running — capitalist principles alongside a subsistence economy, as well as reciprocal relationships and patron–client exploitation.

Type
Chapter
Information
Labour in Vietnam , pp. 91 - 118
Publisher: ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
Print publication year: 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×