Vietnam has one of the highest female labour-force participation rates in the world [4] and ranked the second most women in senior management among Asian countries.

According to William S. Turley, "the role of women in traditional Vietnamese culture was determined [partly] by ... indigenous customs bearing traces of matriarchy",[9] affecting "different social classes"[9] to "varying degrees".

[9] According to Chiricosta, the legend of Âu Cơ is said to be evidence of "the presence of an original 'matriarchy' in North Vietnam and [it] led to the double kinship system, which developed there .... [and which] combined matrilineal and patrilineal patterns of family structure and assigned equal importance to both lines.

[14] Chiricosta said that other scholars relied on "this 'matriarchal' aspect of the myth to differentiate Vietnamese society from the pervasive spread of Chinese Confucian patriarchy"[15][c] and that "resistance to China's colonization of Vietnam ... [combined with] the view that Vietnam was originally a matriarchy ... [led to viewing] women's struggles for liberation from (Chinese) patriarchy as a metaphor for the entire nation's struggle for Vietnamese independence.

"[16] According to Karen G. Turner, in the 3rd century A.D., Lady Triệu "seem[ed] ... to personify the matriarchal culture that mitigated Confucianized patriarchal norms .... [although] she is also painted as something of a freak ... with her ... savage, violent streak.

"[17] A female military leader who managed, for a time, to successfully resist the Chinese state of Eastern Wu during its occupation of Vietnam, she is quoted as saying, "I'd like to ride storms, kill sharks in the open sea, drive out the aggressors, reconquer the country, undo the ties of serfdom, and never bend my back to be the concubine of whatever man.

[23] According to Keith Weller Taylor, "the matriarchal flavor of the time is ... attested by the fact that Trưng Trắc's mother's tomb and spirit temple have survived, although nothing remains of her father",[25] and the "society of the Trung sisters" was "strongly matrilineal".

[26] On the other hand, even though the Trưng sisters are remembered for their military skills and bravery, they have also been used to confirm women's societal role in a different manner.

Some historians have focused on their physical beauty and emphasized their devotion to family as well as Trưng Trắc's romantic relationship with her husband, Lạc lord Thi Sach.

[29][30] In return, the king granted the Vietnamese the right to establish settlements in Mô Xoài (now Bà Rịa), in the region of Prey Nokor—which they colloquially referred to as Sài Gòn, and which later became Ho Chi Minh City.

Women's rights were restricted and were relegated to just as properties, subservient to the male husbands, female historical figures were minimized or rebuked.

However, there were some examples of successful women winning through social class mobility during this period because the Confucianism and collectivism in Vietnam were not that strict and rigid as compared with other countries such as China and Japan.

In fact, Vietnamese nobles had "thought it no Shame or Disgrace to marry their daughters to English and Dutch Seamen, for the Time they were to stay in Tonquin, and often presented their Son in Law pretty hand- somely at their departure, especially if they left their Wives with Child.

"[40] In this way, the marriage and subsequent departure of a foreign husband was seen as an opportunity for social advancement, and there wasn't a stigma surrounding the "abandoned wife."

European religious leaders began blaming East Asian women for being prostitutes, and the temporary marriages came to be seen as shameful instead of honorable.

This character and spirit of Vietnamese women were first exemplified by the conduct of the Trung sisters, one of the "first historical figures" in the history of Vietnam who revolted against Chinese control.

North Vietnamese women were enlisted and fought in the combat zone and provided manual labor to keep the Ho Chi Minh trail open.

Women were enlisted in both the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and the Viet Cong guerrilla insurgent force in South Vietnam.

[58] One author said that Vietnam during the 1980s was "a place where, after exhausting work and furious struggle, women can be confident that they travel the path which will some day arrive at their liberation.

"[66] However, some historians have argued that women's advocates in Vietnam "have been weakened in the post-reunification era due in part to the implementation of free market reforms in a nondemocratic political context.

[68] Free-market policies known as the Đổi Mới put female-headed households in rural areas at a disadvantage by limiting their access to credit.

The cultural differences between northern and southern Vietnam include "marriage rituals, family living arrangement, household composition, and premarital sexual behaviors" according to a study by Teerawichitchainan et al.[77] Confucianism's emphasis on the family still impacts Vietnamese women's lives, especially in rural areas, where it espouses the importance of premarital female virginity and condemns abortion and divorce.

[84] This is due to the prevalent local attitudes and measures taken towards preventing divorce in order to preserve the family unit, rather than helping victims escape domestic abuse.

[97][98] Recent studies have shown a shift in Vietnam's sex ratio to match that of other countries in the region, where proportions are uneven and men outnumber women.

To ensure the sex of children in recent years, Vietnamese families have increasingly been using ultrasound technology and enhancing and developing the produced images.

[73] As of late 20th century, economist Amartya Sen has noted the recent advent of sex-selective abortions to further increase the phenomenon of "missing women" worldwide.

[105] Local credit associations do not feel secure giving loans to single mothers, which has resulted in a poverty increase for households that are led by a woman.

The International Labour Organizations recently stated that the gender pay gap has started to increase, according to the ILO Global Wage Report during the 2012-13 period, compared to 1999–2007.

Many scholars argue that industrialization of booming economies, like that of Thailand and Singapore, created a draw for poor migrants seeking upward mobility and individuals wanting to leave war torn countries.

The sex industry emerged in Southeast Asia in the mid 20th century as a way for women to generate more income for struggling migrants and locals trying to support families or themselves.