Microfinance: A Gender Equality Tool in the Context of Vietnam

Vietnam is considered one of the fastest-growing economies in the Southeast Asian region, but the country’s economic development and socio-economic sustainability are marked by significant gender imbalances. As such, this chapter offers a valuable contribution to this field of study, as it engages with a quantitative analysis of microfinance tools and the role that they can play in helping to empower women in Vietnam. Women are important economic actors with unquestionable social and economic contributions. This research study is supported by a sample of 351 women microfinance-borrowers in Tra Vinh province located in the Mekong Delta in the southern region of Vietnam. The implementation of logistic regression modelling contributed to the identification of relevant factors that aided women in enhancing their economic, social, and family role. In addition, the analysis is supported by insights from interviews conducted with relevant microfinance institutions that offer further insights into the value of microfinance to address inequality barriers in Tra Vinh province. The empirical outcomes highlight that microfinance tools have enabled women borrowers to have access to the needed financial resources. Access to financial resources has enabled women to exercise some level of control over their own income and savings, but women are still heavily reliant on males due to their historical culturally dominant role. This is a small but very important achievement in a society that is dominated by its patriarchal system, and where microfinance has contributed to facilitating women’s access to financial resources that are mainly used to look after their children, family needs, and in some cases for their own use. The study identifies the role of women’s unions as being crucial to help in bridging loans between microfinance providers and their members while promoting and supporting the development of economic independence and social recognition for Vietnamese women.