ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the changing roles and status of women in Vietnam through the turbulent times of foreign rule, civil war, and revolution. It discusses how changes in women's education relate to dramatic changes in women's social, political, and economic roles and status. The chapter starts with a consideration of women before and under French colonialism and ends with a look at education in Vietnam during the period of the two Vietnams and after reunification in 1975. It looks at educational policies and enrollment patterns as well as their workforce and political outcomes. The discussion of education in contemporary Vietnam is based largely on interview data collected in January 1988. In France gender based inequality in education and throughout society generally was all pervasive. Women were an important part of the Vietnamese Revolution. The Vietnam Women's Union was formed in 1930 to fight for women's emancipation and to struggle against French colonialism.
