Publication

This paper analyzes the links between economic reform and development, gender equality and women’s welfare as they played out in Vietnam during the 1990s, when the government carried out far-reaching and comprehensive reforms. The author argues that macroeconomic and market liberalization policies, although gender-neutral in intent, can give rise to gendered outcomes as a result of various underlying and interrelated factors. However, the paper finds that the welfare of women in Vietnam generally improved as a result of macroeconomic stabilization and controlled external liberalization policies.