group work # 2

How institution affects gender economic development

NO.	Male retirement Age	Female Retirement Age
	60	55

Table: Vietnamese age of retirement

Our group chooses Vietnam to analyze how institution affects gender economic development. We choose the policy of age of retirement in Vietnam as a particular institution to examine.

Women in Vietnam currently retire at the age of 55, a full five years earlier than men, at the age of 60. The purpose of this policy was to reduce public responsibility for women and ensure they had more time to take care of their family. This policy reflects that the state continues to place great emphasis on women’s role as mothers, and consider it as the basic values of the society. Also, the majority of the people (including women) continue to hold the belief that women are physically weaker than men and they should retire earlier, including civil servants.

First of all, this early retirement policy is resulting in unequal work opportunities. It prevents women from being promoted to higher management positions across the civil service and in turn protects men’s career promotion opportunities. This is a serious waste of human resources because at that age, women are in their highest mental demands (skills, experiences and networks).Furthermore, women in Vietnam usually live longer than men; therefore, they receive more pension payments than men. It places a heavy burden on the social security system. Its sustainability could be jeopardized in the long term without reform.

Raising women’s retirement age is one of the possible solutions to balance the fund and ensure social security system in long term. It is suggested thatwomen should be given the right to work and contribute until the age of 60. However, there are several controversial ideas about this solution such as it will limit the job opportunities for young generation who are about to enter to the labor market for the first time. Therefore, the Government of Vietnam should consider carefully revising this policy. 

Group Members

1.     Aye Chan Myae  (st116970)

2.     Le Nguyen Lan Chi (st116497)

3.     Nikita Shakya (st116512)

4.     Ying Lwin ( st116510)