Political Representation in Vietnam, and the United States

In the United States 50.52% of the population is female and 23.4% of Congress is female. In Vietnam, 50.08%, and 24.3% of the National Assembly is female. (World Population Review 2019) Although the difference is small between the two countries is small, and there is a great divide between the population and representation in these , it is indicative of different approaches to gender equality. Both countries have different forms of government, that have allowed for different amounts of growth on the subject of gender. Because of the heavy restrictions and role in daily life the Vietnamese government has, once they decided to work towards gender equality, progress and change occurred much quicker than in the US, where each individual inch of progress must be fought for and lead up to with the inch before it.
(World Bank, Wikipedia, World Population Review)

Vietnam is a single party state, meaning only one political party (The Vietnamese Communist Party) is constitutionally allowed to hold seats in the National Assembly. The Assembly first convened in 1946, and women and men had equal voting rights for choosing representatives from the start. At it’s highest, the percentage of women in the assembly was 32% in 1975, however it has dropped since to 24.3%. Unlike the United States, Vietnam has had both an (acting) female president, and a female vice president. Up to and during 1626, it was a society free of European influence, however Vietnam 1627 and onwards was all influenced by French missionaries and law in some way. Prior to French rule, women were considered much closer to men in society, however with colonial rule came colonial concepts, and soon Western gender ideals were accepted in Vietnam. (Hays 2008)

The United States has no legal limit on political parties, however generally power is divided between the Democratic Party and Republican Party. They both tend to have wildly differing beliefs, and even those who identify with other parties, or tend to identify with one once reaching office for the sake of passing legislation. (Vox 2015) Women in the USA were not allowed their constitutional right to vote till 1920, after decades of fighting. Although many women have ran for President and Vice President, with Hillary Clinton winning the popular vote in the 2016 election, the United States has never elected a female President or Vice President.

Activism is the main method of pushing for legislative change, and many citizens do take part in it, along with voting. Because of the freedom of expression each citizen has based on the Constitution, most social legislation passed is fought for for years by the groups that it supports.

In both countries, the government and its systems play an important role in political representation. In the US, the government is usually only swayed to new legislation when there is little doubt it is what the citizens that are being represented are in favor of. This is because it is a representative democracy, as opposed to the single party system of Vietnam, which has less choice in voting, but a single set of beliefs the government actively tries to advance. At its most simplified, the US government is supposed to merely act as a vessel for what the citizens want, as opposed to Vietnam, where the beliefs of the VCP are what is worked towards regardless of citizen approval. This isn’t to say the US government doesn’t advance any of its beliefs, or that Vietnamese citizens have no voice in their government, but in general that is how their systems work.

Regardless of where they are now, both countries have made considerable progress from 100 years ago, and will hopefully continue to make progress. They are great examples of some of the tradeoffs a nation usually has to make to get certain things done.




Works Cited

 Hays, Jeffrey. “FRENCH OCCUPATION OF VIETNAM.” Facts and Details, Jeffrey Hays, 2008, http://factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/Vietnam/sub5_9a/entry-3337.html.
Klein, Ezra. “Third Parties Are the Underpants Gnomes of American Politics.” YouTube, Vox, 7 Jan. 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seTQHy6w3gA.
“Population, Female (% of Total Population).” Data, World Bank, 2018, https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/sp.pop.totl.fe.zs.
“United States Population 2019.” United States Population 2019 (Demographics, Maps, Graphs), World Population Review, http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/united-states-population/.
“Vietnam Population 2019.” Vietnam Population 2019 (Demographics, Maps, Graphs), World Population Review, http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/vietnam-population/.
“Vietnam: National Assembly.” Women Political Leaders Global Forum, Women Political Leaders, 2019, https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:DnchSETQI68J:https://www.womenpoliticalleaders.org/parliament/vietnam-national-assembly/+&cd=8&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=safari.
“Women in Government.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Oct. 2019, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_government.
“Women's Representation in the National Assembly of Viet Nam.” United Nations, 2012.

Comments

Popular Posts