VietNamNet Bridge – For most Vietnamese people, the Tet (Lunar New Year) Festival symbolises the beginning of a new year and the accompanying hopes for a happy life. No matter the family’s circumstances, people always prepare traditional dishes for ancestor worship with the hope that the ancestors will bless their descendants with good health, luck and prosperity in the Lunar New Year. Traditional dishes like banh chung (square sticky rice cake), gio lua (lean pork paste), thit dong (frozen meat stew), canh mang (bamboo sprout soup) and nem (spring roll) are popular dishes around Tet. The burden for preparing all of this falls to women. And the incomplete progress towards gender equality means that they must balance this task with many other responsibilities, such as career and childcare. As such, many specialities are more available for purchase and an increasing number of women, still expected by their families to serve the traditional meals, are selecting ready-to-eat food service to help them save time and effort. Nguyen Thu Huyen, from Hanoi’s Thanh Xuan District, is among them. As a chief accountant for a private company, she had to work until the last day before Tet. Over the past two years, Huyen has usually hired people to prepare food and all that she has to do is display them on the family altar. “With this service, I have more time to rest, play and take care of my children. I think this is a very convenient service, helping to share some of… [Read full story]
Divorce drives poor women rate (07-11-2006) HA NOI — More women and children are becoming vulnerable as a result of rising divorce rates in Viet Nam. "Only 25 per cent of divorced women receive support for raising children, of whom only 48 percent receive adequate support. The reality is many irresponsible fathers support their children for as little as six months," says Master Nguyen Thi Thanh Tam, Scientific Research Centre for Family and Women. With their children to care for and feed, women start their new lives with a far greater burden than men. The life of a divorced woman…... [read more]
Led by Dr. Aditya Gaur, of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, the researchers have uncovered the above three cases - two in Miami and one in Memphis, Tennessee - and found that the source of HIV in the pre-chewed food was most likely the infected blood in the saliva of the people who pre-chewed the food before giving it to the children. In developing countries, some mothers pre-chew food for babies. These women may lack access to packaged baby food or may not have a way to blend baby food. This practice is thought to be very rare in the…... [read more]
Award-winning Nguyen Thi Khanh Thuong's journey as a cancer crusader began when she herself was diagnosed with breast cancer weeks before her wedding on Vietnamese Women's Day last year. She tells her inspirational tale of fighting the deadly disease and her future fundraising plans. by Lan Dung Inner Sanctum: How has the knowledge gained from working with cancer charities helped you fight against breast cancer? Actually, I did not know much about cancer during my time with charities. I took part in the events as a team leader to support the patients mentally and physically. At that time, I only…... [read more]
A poor family in Ha Tinh province is calling for financial support to help the father treat electrical burn injuries suffered in an accident. The father is Vo Kim Dat from Yen Lac Village, Cam Xuyen District. He is being treated at trauma center of Ha Tinh General Hospital for nearly a month after a work-related accident. On May 15, Dat and his freelance co-workers accepted a job to build a second story for a house in the neighbouring town. They carelessly let the tools touch the nearby 35KV high-voltage electric line. The electricity killed one worker immediately while Dat…... [read more]
Vũ Thu Hà “Women are the largest untapped reservoir of talent in the world,” former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton once said. Her words ring particularly true in Asia, where stereotypes and cultural norms continue to prevent millions of women from fulfilling their real potential. This week, as representatives from 21 Asia-Pacific economies gather for the APEC 2017 Women and the Economy Forum in Việt Nam’s Thừa Thiên - Huế Province, it is a opportune time to look more closely at status-quo and some long-standing challenges to closing the gender gap. First, some compelling figures. Despite the much acclaimed economic…... [read more]
