Tiếng Việt
中文 (中国)
日本語
Throughout thousands of years of human history, women have always been subjected to disadvantages and inequality. In Vietnam, this situation has persisted due to the traditional mindset of ‘male preference,’ passed down from generation to generation, affecting women’s rights in society.
In the modern era, although Vietnam’s 2019 Labor Code No. 45/2019/QH14 (“2019 Labor Code“) includes progressive provisions aimed at promoting gender equality and protecting female workers’ rights, significant challenges remain in practice.
Female workers, despite benefiting from preferential policies such as maternity leave and special working conditions, still face unique challenges. Physical limitations, endurance, the ability to perform heavy labor, and the pressure of balancing work and family during pregnancy or while raising young children often put female workers at a disadvantage compared to their male counterparts.
These challenges not only affect work efficiency but also reduce career development opportunities and genuine workplace equality for women.
Inequality in Recruitment, Employment, and Training in Vietnam
In many industries in Vietnam, particularly physically demanding jobs such as construction, manufacturing, or transportation, female workers often face inequality in recruitment, employment, and training. Even when their health and abilities meet job requirements, women are still denied opportunities solely because of their gender. Employers often favor male workers, citing endurance or long-term commitment concerns, despite these assumptions not always being accurate.
Another prominent issue is employers’ reluctance to hire young female workers, especially those who are unmarried or married but without children. Employers fear that these workers may become pregnant and take maternity leave in the future, disrupting operations for at least six months. This concern extends to additional risks such as the need to hire temporary replacements and dismiss them once the female worker returns to work.
This leads to implicit discrimination, depriving female workers of career and self-development opportunities.
Additionally, inequality is evident in employment and training. Advanced skills training programs or promotion opportunities are often limited for female workers due to stereotypes that they may not remain long-term or cannot handle high-pressure work.
These inequalities not only reduce personal development opportunities for female workers but also negatively impact the overall labor market. Excluding half of the potential and dynamic workforce—women—is a waste of human resources. It also increases competition for male workers, creating unnecessary hiring pressures and slowing gender equality and sustainable development progress.
To address this issue, strong intervention is required from both legal and social perspectives. Businesses must understand that gender equality is not only a social responsibility but also a long-term benefit.
Article 135(1) of the 2019 Labor Code clearly reflects the Vietnamese Government’s perspective on the need to establish and ensure equal rights for female and male workers and to implement measures to guarantee gender equality in the workplace.
However, Vietnam currently lacks specific standards for assessing employers’ compliance with workplace gender equality. For example, outside of Article 74 of Decree 145/2020/ND-CP, which defines employers employing a large number of female workers, there is no mandatory 50% male-female ratio requirement. Consequently, compliance largely depends on business owners’ perspectives.
In some developed countries, businesses identified as employing a large number of female workers or similar classifications receive various incentives. For example, in the United States, policies support women-owned businesses through consulting, training, and access to capital managed by the Small Business Administration (SBA).
Additionally, the European Union provides funds and support programs to promote gender equality in businesses, including training, skill development, and career advancement opportunities for female workers. Under strict supervision, businesses can use these funds to implement gender equality initiatives.
Beyond female workforce ratios, many companies must also comply with disability employment quotas to support social inclusion and promote labor rights for disabled individuals. In Japan, under the “Employment Promotion Act for Persons with Disabilities,” businesses and government organizations must employ a minimum of 2.2% disabled workers if they have at least 46 employees.
In Vietnam, Article 83(2) of Decree 145/2020/ND-CP stipulates that the Vietnamese Government will support employers employing many female workers through tax reductions under tax laws. Additionally, additional expenses for female workers, ensuring gender equality, and preventing workplace sexual harassment under Decree 145/2020/ND-CP are deductible expenses when calculating corporate income tax, as regulated by the Ministry of Finance.
However, Vietnam has yet to implement specific mechanisms to guide the enforcement of these regulations, such as defining which expenses qualify as female worker support. As a result, most employers have not benefited from these provisions.
Thus, gender equality support regulations remain largely theoretical. Moving forward, Vietnam must strengthen the enforcement of labor equality laws and promote training and support programs for female workers to ensure fair opportunities. This effort should start with specific guidance to help businesses comply with gender equality support initiatives.
Challenges Faced by Female Workers During Pregnancy and Childbirth
In Vietnam, one of the major challenges for female workers is the restriction on recruitment or discrimination by businesses due to their childbearing responsibilities and family care obligations. During pregnancy and childbirth, female workers require rest periods and are entitled to maternity benefits for up to six months or more in special cases as stipulated by Vietnamese law.
This has unintentionally become a reason for many businesses to view hiring female workers as a potential burden, affecting work efficiency, increasing costs, and reducing labor productivity. As a result, many female workers face the risk of being denied job opportunities or not having their rights adequately protected during pregnancy and childbirth.
To address this issue, the government has introduced various regulations to safeguard the rights of female workers. For example, Clause 2, Article 137 of the 2019 Labor Code states that female workers engaged in heavy, hazardous, or dangerous occupations, or jobs that may adversely affect reproductive health and childcare, are entitled to be transferred to lighter, safer work or have their daily working hours reduced by one hour without any reduction in salary and benefits until their child reaches 12 months old.
Clause 1, Article 138 of the 2019 Labor Code also allows pregnant female workers, upon confirmation by a competent medical facility that continuing work may harm the fetus, to unilaterally terminate or temporarily suspend their labor contract.
These regulations not only ensure the legal rights of female workers and protect the healthy development of the fetus but also promote gender equality in the workplace.
However, in practice, the enforcement of these regulations remains challenging. Some businesses may attempt to circumvent the law or fail to create favorable conditions for female workers.
Additionally, Vietnam has yet to issue comprehensive guidelines for implementing these regulations, making their application more theoretical than practical.
The list of heavy, hazardous, and dangerous jobs has been specified by the Minister of Labor, War Invalids, and Social Affairs in Circular 11/2020/TT-BLĐTBXH, covering 1,838 occupations deemed physically demanding or hazardous.
However, no specific list exists for jobs that adversely affect reproductive health and childcare. Currently, pregnant female workers must obtain certification from a competent medical facility to confirm that their work poses risks to reproductive functions and childcare.
Yet, medical facilities lack detailed guidelines to follow, leading to inconsistencies where jobs that may negatively impact reproductive health are not formally recognized as such. Therefore, Vietnam needs to establish a detailed list of occupations affecting reproductive health and childcare during pregnancy to provide clear legal grounds for workers, businesses, and medical institutions.
To comprehensively resolve these issues, close collaboration among the government, businesses, and society is essential to raise awareness and foster a fair and civilized working environment.
Difficulties During Prenatal Checkups
Article 32 of the 2014 Social Insurance Law No. 58/2014/QH13 (“2014 Social Insurance Law“) stipulates that during pregnancy, female workers are entitled to five days off for prenatal checkups, with one day per visit. In cases where the medical facility is far from their residence or the pregnancy is complicated, they may take up to two days per visit.
Accordingly, in special cases, female workers may take up to 10 days off for prenatal checkups. This is a crucial benefit to ensure the health of both mother and fetus, while also allowing female workers access to necessary healthcare services during pregnancy.
However, in practice, this regulation still presents limitations, as it may not be sufficient for female workers with high-risk pregnancies or those requiring frequent medical checkups.
Vietnamese law currently does not provide additional support mechanisms for female workers who need more leave than the prescribed days. This creates difficulties for workers who have exhausted their annual leave, as they may face salary deductions if their employer permits additional leave or risk being considered absent without leave if denied.
For female workers in high-pressure environments or those working far from medical facilities, balancing work with prenatal checkup needs becomes a significant burden. Furthermore, some businesses, due to a lack of awareness or unwillingness to accommodate female workers, may inadvertently violate their rights.
To resolve this issue, legal frameworks should be expanded to provide clearer provisions for supporting female workers in special cases, such as allowing flexible prenatal leave or offering financial support when leave exceeds the statutory limit, provided there is medical certification.
Additionally, businesses should take greater responsibility in protecting and supporting pregnant female workers, contributing to the creation of a more inclusive and fair working environment.
Encouraging female workers to view childbirth as a right and a noble responsibility rather than a financial burden will help Vietnam achieve sustainable development and maintain an optimal population growth rate. This will prevent Vietnam from facing the same demographic crises as Japan and South Korea, where alarmingly low birth rates have resulted in significant societal challenges, as childbirth is increasingly perceived as a burden rather than a societal benefit.
Shortcomings in Workplace Conditions for Female Workers After Childbirth Who Need to Express Milk
Clause 5, Article 80 of Decree 145/2020/ND-CP encourages employers to set up lactation rooms suitable to workplace conditions, female workers’ needs, and the employer’s capabilities. However, businesses employing 1,000 or more female workers are required to install lactation rooms at the workplace.
This regulation aims to ensure female workers can care for their children. However, current laws only encourage small businesses to install lactation rooms while mandating them for companies with over 1,000 female employees.
This creates inconsistency in protecting female workers’ rights across different workplace environments, as a female worker in a company of 10 employees essentially has the same needs as one in a company of 10,000.
Clause 76 of Decree 145/2020/ND-CP outlines basic standards for lactation rooms, such as requiring a private space separate from bathrooms or restrooms, access to electricity and water, tables, chairs, a hygienic refrigerator, and fans or air conditioning.
However, Vietnam has not yet specified minimum space requirements for these rooms, leading many businesses to provide cramped, inadequate spaces that fail to meet the needs of nursing mothers, sometimes even lacking basic privacy for milk expression and storage. Legal regulations should include these criteria to better protect female workers’ rights.
Beyond lactation rooms, Clause 4, Article 137 of the 2019 Labor Code and Point a, Clause 4, Article 80 of Decree 145/2020/ND-CP entitle female workers with children under 12 months old to a 60-minute break per workday for breastfeeding, expressing, storing milk, or resting, while still receiving full wages.
This provision aims to safeguard the health of both mother and child, but it does not clarify whether it applies to both biological and adoptive children, potentially leading to policy abuse, disadvantaging employers, and creating unfairness among workers.
Responsibilities of Female Workers
Vietnamese labor laws have introduced numerous provisions to protect female workers’ rights, particularly during pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare. However, excessive privileges can sometimes lead to unintended consequences, resulting in reverse discrimination, which contradicts Vietnam’s gender equality goals.
For example, Clause 1, Article 138 of the 2019 Labor Code states that if a pregnant female worker wishes to unilaterally terminate or temporarily suspend her labor contract due to work-related risks to her unborn child, she must notify the employer and provide medical certification confirming that continuing work would negatively affect the fetus.
However, this provision does not specify a deadline for notification, which may lead to situations where female workers fail to inform their employers in a timely manner. Conversely, employers, unaware of the situation, are unable to recruit replacement workers or rearrange workloads, causing operational disruptions.
In some cases, female workers may exploit this situation to ‘hold onto’ their positions indefinitely without clear intentions to either resume work or resign, causing significant losses to the employer.
Additionally, some female workers repeatedly take advantage of maternity protection policies by having multiple consecutive pregnancies while holding critical company positions. This creates difficulties for employers in maintaining stable operations, further discouraging them from hiring female employees.
This issue is particularly common among Vietnamese workers employed under labor supply contracts with foreign companies in Japan and South Korea. Since these companies cannot prohibit childbirth due to human rights laws, they must endure prolonged vacancies—sometimes lasting several years—without being able to hire replacements.
Such behavior by a small segment of Vietnamese workers tarnishes the overall image of Vietnamese labor in the eyes of international investors and multinational corporations, ultimately harming the country’s economic development.
This challenge forces businesses to strike a balance between legal compliance and maintaining operational efficiency. If key positions are frequently vacated due to extended maternity leaves, project timelines and productivity suffer. Moreover, companies must bear additional costs for hiring temporary replacements and retraining employees upon their return.
To address this issue, Vietnam’s legal framework should be adjusted to emphasize the responsibility of female workers in ensuring they do not abuse maternity policies. For instance, authorities could consider limiting the number of maternity leaves within a certain period or requiring female employees to coordinate with employers for better workforce planning when planning pregnancies.
Additionally, businesses should have the right to reassign pregnant workers to more suitable roles to maintain operational flexibility and efficiency.
In summary, while protecting female workers is essential, legal provisions must be balanced to prevent reverse discrimination and ensure mutual responsibility between female workers and employers.
ASL LAW is the top-tier Vietnam law firm for Employment and Labor Law. If you need any advice, please contact us for further information or collaboration.
