“Glass walls” 

These are the main findings from a new policy brief entitled “Gender equality in recruitment and promotion practices in Vietnam” which comes from the latest study conducted by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in co-operation with Navigos Searchpublished on March 5. 

One in five out of 12,300 job postings in the country’s four largest job portals – Vietnamworks, JobStreet, CareerBuilder and CareerLink – between mid-November 2014 and mid-January 2015 included gender requirements.

Among such job advertisements with gender preference, 70% requested that the positions be filled by men whereas only 30% wanted female applicants.

Men were most often targeted for more technical and highly skilled jobs or jobs that require more outdoor activities, such as architects, drivers, engineers and IT professionals.

Meanwhile, women were often preferred for office and support work, such as receptionists, secretaries, accountants, human resources and general affairs.

“Job advertisements should avoid any mention of gender as this represents a direct form of gender-based discrimination, and such “glass walls” will result in gender segregation by occupation and job functions”, said ILO Viet Nam Director Gyorgy Sziraczki. “This will limit the ability of businesses to fully benefit from the talent of newly recruited employers”, he added.

By advertising gender preference, women’s and even men’s access to certain types of jobs is restricted, thereby depriving them of important opportunities in the labour market.

“The majority of occupations where male workers are preferred are higher-skilled and better paid than most of those for women”, said Nguyen Thi Van Anh, Navigos Search Managing Director.

Gender segregation along the career ladder within an occupation was also shown by the job advertisements for managerial positions. Up to 83 per cent of management job postings with gender preference required male applicants. Significantly, all of the director posts were exclusively for men.

As part of the study, a survey with employers in the private sector in January 2015 revealed that apart from academic qualifications and work experience – the two most important factors in recruiting decisions, two thirds of employers ask questions about the applicants’ availability to work outside of normal working hours. Up to 43% of employers also seek to discover applicants’ marital status and 30% tried to find out their future plans to have children.

Creating a gender-sensitive business environment
However, another survey with candidates for mid-career posts showed that far more female candidates were asked about their future childbearing plans and family responsibilities than men.

According to Van Anh, the perception that women, not men, bear the main responsibilities for housework, childcare and the care of other dependents, is an important factor in hiring decisions.

However, once landing in their job, the majority of candidates for senior positions, who are typically at least 28 of age and in their mid-career, did not see gender-based discrimination in the working environment and promotion opportunities.

The study found a fair degree of equal salary increase for women (with only 8% of female interviewees reporting to be refused a pay rise because of their gender), reinforcing the fact that gender wage gap is relatively small in Vietnam. The gap is 9.4% in the 2013 Vietnam Labour Force Survey, compare to 4% to 36% less in women’s averages wages against men’s globally.

Two thirds of the mid-career candidates also believed that women and men have an equal chance of being promoted in their company.

However, the study still saw room for improvement.Only 60% of the employers interviewed count maternity leave period as part of the length of service as required by the laws. With the length of service being the second most important factor when employers make promotion decisions, this represents a significant disadvantage for women to progress in their careers.

“Creating a gender-sensitive business environment that promotes work-life balance must be a priority. This would benefit workers, companies and the society as a whole – a mutual gain to everyone”, said the ILO Vietnam Director.