Notions of masculinity associated with toughness and dominance over women were risk factors for violence against women in Vietnam, a workshop heard yesterday.
The workshop, held in the capital today to launch three studies on masculinities and gender discrimination in Vietnam, heard that men often developed such belief systems during adolescence.
A 2011 study, entitled Masculinities and Violence Against Women, showed that men were expected to look manly, be decisive and confident and never do "women's work" such as housework and childcare.
Carried out in Hanoi, HCM City, Da Nang City and central Quang Nam Province, the study focused on exploring the attitudes and perceptions of male and female adolescents toward gender equity and masculinities.
Another study on gender, masculinity and son preference in Nepal and Vietnam, which surveyed men aged 18-49, indicated that 26 per cent of men agreed that a woman deserved to be beaten and 90 per cent of men agreed that to be a man "you need to be tough".
It also found a high prevalence of violence against intimate partners among the men surveyed. The study was carried out in northern Hung Yen Province and the Mekong Delta's Can Tho Province in 2011.
And, a study, entitled Teach the wife when she first arrives, interviewed men and women in Hanoi and Hue City in 2011, and explored the connections between masculinities, gender and power.
It demonstrated that violence was not necessarily socially acceptable in Vietnam but men's control and authority over their wives was widely legitimised.
It suggested there was a growing consensus that boys and men, together with girls and women, had an essential role in ending violence.
The first national study on domestic violence against women in Vietnam, launched in 2010, showed that one in three married women reported they had suffered physical or sexual violence from their husbands at some point.
Manly 'toughness' key in violence against women in Vietnam
Notions of masculinity associated with toughness and dominance over women were risk factors for violence against women in Vietnam, a workshop heard yesterday.
Source: VNS
