An Thuy Nguyen
This article examines the political and diplomatic struggles in urban South Vietnam from the perspective of women in the Vietnamese Women’s Movement for the Right to Live (WRL) during the Vietnam War. This movement was a timely response to the American war of aggression, which had destroyed the fabric of South Vietnamese society and drastically diminished women’s position within it by 1970. Under the leadership of Mrs. Ngô Bá Thành, the WRL fought for peace and women’s liberation through political action and shrewd diplomacy.
Unlike female guerrilla fighters, the WRL maintained political autonomy and neutrality throughout the conflict. As a result, it was violently repressed by the Saigon government and quickly disbanded after the communist victory in 1975. Nevertheless, studying these politically sophisticated women’s anti-war efforts is crucial to understanding the symbiotic yet destructive relationship between Third World women and American imperialism during the twentieth century. It also helps dismantle essentialist assumptions about Asian women as inherently submissive and politically naïve. The WRL is a sterling example of Vietnamese women’s ingenuity in their dual struggle for national liberation and gender equality….
https://sci-hub.se/10.1080/14672715.2018.1542522
An Thuy Nguyen is a Ph.D. student in history at the University of Maine. Her research interests are the history of U.S.-Asian relations, women’s history, and feminist theory. Her current research investigates the detrimental and lasting impact of American foreign policy on South Vietnamese socio-political infrastructure during the Second Indochina War. This research reflects her interest in the role of non-state actors in delivering peace and change in general, and in influencing U.S. foreign policy in particular.
More research on Vietnamese Women’s struggles
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