Thursday, September 12, 2002
Single women in Vietnam receiving little attention
A story released today by Xinhua News reports that in a society which places great emphasis on the family unit as Vietnam, the concerns and needs of single women often receive little attention.
The 1999 population and housing census revealed that women make up the vast majority, over 80 percent, of unmarried adults in Vietnam.
After interviewing a number of women, one thing became extremely clear. They are of a diverse group with very different reasons for their single status, and hope to receive more society' s attention.
Failure to find a suitable partner is the most common reason given by single females who have not married. Other women said that they were not attractive enough, did not gain parental approval, or were too poor or unhealthy to marry.
For some women, staying single is a conscious decision, based on motivations raging from career goals to religious beliefs. Census figures also indicate that it is much more difficult for widows or divorced women to remarry compared to their male counterparts.
