Single Mothers’ Livelihoods in Rural North Central Vietnam

Abstract

Single mothers in rural North Central Vietnam face many difficulties in earning their livelihoods. Since they deviate from the norms of the patriarchal family, many do not find it easy to obtain support from their own relatives or access livelihood assets from their parents. As units of production, their households lack the support from the relatives of spouses that are normally available to married women and face discrimination in accessing livelihood capital. Finally, the stigma induced by the state-sponsored notion of the ‘Happy Family’ acts as a social deterrent to their pursuit of the good life. Thus, regardless of their efforts to make a living, many single mothers find themselves unable to improve their income and reduce poverty. Despite greater social acceptance of single motherhood, their experiences suggest that the good life in Vietnam today remains invested in the ideal of heterosexual marriage reproduced by state discourses and enduring patriarchal ideas and practices.