[jjr69] Re: Vietnam's Women Of War
- From: Annette Tran <annettetran02@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: jjr69@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2003 19:56:32 -0800 (PST)
Da.t,
< in VN, at least officially, the revolution that
these women fought for advocates the emancipation of
women and the equality of the sexes >
Note from reader: the word "officially" is very
important and makes a big difference in this sentence.
Dear Da(.t,if that word were not there, I would have
to disagree with you.
From my heartrending observations, after 4 times
visiting VN, I come to the depressing observation that
most women are mistreated, looked down, mentally,
orally abused by men. Educated or not educated, they
have to put up with their husbands'abusive behavior,
mostly due to the Vietnamese cultural obligations, AND
due to the lack of protection from the law.
P.S I'm reading Catfish and Mandala. Yes, it's
poignant, truthful, and also entertaining. Thanks for
recommending it to me.
Annette
--- Dat Duthinh <dduthinh@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Dear Dzung:
>
> Thank you for a most poignant article. It is
> particularly fitting that
> you, a former officer of the ARVN and re-ed camp
> "student" would choose to
> distribute it. We look at the enemy, and they are
> us. We are all VN, our
> heroes, our values are the same. We are all humans,
> and war is horror for
> winners and losers alike.
>
> In reading the story, I kept thinking of the black
> and white picture of a
> young teenage girl, in a broad-brimmed guerilla hat,
> playing the guitar on
> the Ho Chi Minh trail, by a camp fire. I saw this
> photograph at one of the
> photo exhibits in Washington DC last year. She was
> beautiful, innocent,
> full of promise. The caption says that a few days
> after the photo was
> taken, she stepped on a land mine, and there was no
> piece of her left that
> could not fit in the palm of one hand.
>
> The situation in VN is not different from that found
> in many other
> countries. Eritrea fought a war with Ethiopia that
> lasted several decades
> and involved many women fighters. Although women
> achieved a certain parity
> with men in war, when peace came, they had to come
> back to more traditional
> and subservient roles. Another similarity is the
> black soldiers returning
> to the US after WW2 to second class citizenship. In
> VN, at least
> officially, the revolution that these women fought
> for advocates the
> emancipation of women and equality of the sexes.
>
> I did not see any reference to Duong Thu Huong in
> the article. Also the
> ratio of women to men is in fact lower, not higher
> than normal. Overall,
> there are 52 girls born to 48 boys worldwide.
>
>
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