The results of the 2019 Survey on the Socio-economic Situation of 53 Ethnic Minority Groups in Vietnam show that ethnic minority women had the “most vulnerable” structure of employment. Their proportion of employment in agriculture and forestry accounted for 76.4%, nearly six percentage points higher than that of ethnic minority men (70.5%) and twice as high as that of women nationwide (35.9%). These jobs were unstable, with poorer working conditions than in other sectors, and they were not eligible to participate in social insurance, unemployment insurance and compulsory health insurance. In addition, the percentage of ethnic minority female laborers doing “unpaid care work” was 52.0%, almost double the rate of male ethnic minority laborers at 26.6% and 2.5 times higher than that rate of female workers nationwide (19.4%). On average, women spent more than one hour (62 minutes) taking care of children in a day, while men spent 33 minutes. Women with children under six years old typically spent significantly more time on childcare than those without, i.e., between 35 and 52 minutes a day.

Research and proposal – Childcare forms in Vietnam rural ethnic minority areas