“That means no employment, no housing, no family, no social life and no associations supporting them,” said Nguyen Van Hung, who helped researchers at the Institute for Labor Science and Social Affairs and the United Nations Development Fund for Women to assess the socio-economic impacts of World Trade Organization (WTO) membership on rural women in the province.

The study, carried out in Dong Thap Province in the Mekong Delta and Hai Duong Province in the north, consisted of interviews with 250 rural women in the two provinces over a one-year period spanning 2008-2009.

Released on October 20 - the Vietnamese Women’s Day, the report indicated that although women in both provinces have benefited from increased employment opportunities and poverty reduction efforts, they still suffered from a lack of skills and unregulated working conditions. Young, single and disabled women were found to be particularly vulnerable to exploitation, the study said.

Nguyen Thi Bich Thuy, one of the leading researchers at the institute, said entrance to the WTO has brought additional job opportunities for women, especially in industries such as garments, textiles and electronics, in which 80 to 90 percent of the workforce are women.

But these jobs tend to be manual, low income, with poor benefits and working conditions, said Thuy.

These women couldn’t gain access high quality jobs due to their low education and skills, said the report. Their ability to access education, vocational training and credit was also very low, according to the researchers.

For example, Hai Duong authorities can only provide vocational training to about one third of its 110,000-strong workforce.

According to Hung, most of those currently working in industrial factories are trained for assembly-line production only, making it very difficult for them to find other types of employment when laid off.

The study found that many migrant women suffer from poor living conditions, the risk of exploitation at work and harassment. The lack of social and family support also dragged on migrant women, especially the young, who were vulnerable to the risk of being lured into sex work, drugs and other criminal activities.

Middle-age women whose agriculture land has been reclaimed by authorities for projects tend to survive on unstable small scale businesses and services due to sub-par health and difficulties learning new skills, according to the researchers.

The report suggested ministries and agencies strengthen education and training opportunities for rural women, raise awareness of the risks and rights in relation to migration and employment and increase investment in job creation, self-employment and vocational training in rural areas.

Dr. Jean Marc Olive, the UN acting resident co-ordinator in Vietnam, stressed that the women “should not be seen as victims” in the country’s progress toward middle-income status.

“In fast growing economies, the challenge is to ensure that social change can go at the same pace as economic change,” the UN official said upon the release of the report.

Reported by Huong Le