TTLA: Gender stereotypes about the personality of female farmers in the Red River Delta region

INFORMATION ABOUT DOCTORAL THESIS

1. Full name of the researcher:Nguyen Thi Thinh            

2. Gender: Female

3. Date of birth: September 16, 1981

4. Place of birth: Ninh Binh

5. Decision on recognition of PhD student No. 3076/QD-SDH dated October 28, 2009 by the President of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU Hanoi.

6. Changes during the training process: Adjust the thesis name according to Decision No. 355/QD-SDH dated March 20, 2012 of the President of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities - Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

7. Thesis topic name:Gender stereotypes about female farmers' personalities in the Red River Delta region

8. Major: Social Psychology Code: Pilot training major

9. Scientific instructor:Prof. Dr. Vu Dung

10. Summary of new results of the thesis:

In recent years, there have been a number of studies on gender bias against women in our country, but there are very few studies on gender bias against the character of female farmers. This is one of the first studies on this issue. The research results of the thesis contribute to supplementing some theoretical issues on social bias in general and gender bias against women in particular in Social Psychology in Vietnam today.

From the results of the study on the current status of gender prejudice against the character of female farmers in the Red River Delta, the thesis has pointed out the fact that gender prejudice against women's abilities still exists. This prejudice is expressed in both the scope of the village community and the scope of the family and clan. In particular, this gender prejudice is expressed more in behavior than in cognition and emotion. This shows that, many times, people are aware of the limitations and negatives of gender prejudice, aware of the need to reduce or eliminate gender prejudice, but in terms of behavior, gender prejudice is still expressed. The significance of this research result is that in order to reduce or eliminate gender prejudice, it is necessary to implement synchronously from the scope of the social community to the scope of the family, to make gender prejudice perception and behavior consistent with each other, especially paying attention to limiting gender prejudice behavior in rural areas, first of all in men.

The research results of the thesis have shown that there are many factors affecting gender stereotypes against women in rural areas, including the male-dominated ideology of Confucianism. This shows that one of the factors that greatly affects gender stereotypes is traditional culture, Confucian ideology that has existed in our country for hundreds of years. This ideology has been deeply ingrained in people's subconscious and is not easy to erase. Therefore, eliminating gender stereotypes is a long-term task and needs to be carried out synchronously.

Another fundamental factor affecting gender stereotypes against female farmers is women’s self-prejudice. In other words, female farmers are still self-conscious and lack confidence in demonstrating their abilities in the family and community. This shows that, to eliminate gender stereotypes and achieve gender equality, women must first eliminate their own self-prejudices and be confident in their family work and community activities.

11. Practical application:

The research results of the thesis can be used as teaching materials for the major of Social Psychology at universities and colleges in our country today.

The research results are also useful documents to help rural mass organizations, first of all the Women's Union, implement measures to achieve gender equality from the family to the social community, promoting the great potential of rural women in family economic development, children's education, and local economic development.

12. Further research directions:

Research on gender bias towards women who are managers and leaders of agencies and organizations in rural areas, assessing gender bias in different regions.

13. Published works related to the thesis:

1. Nguyen Thi Thinh (2013), “Some gender-biased notions about women's personality and abilities in Vietnamese folk songs and proverbs”,Journal of Psychology(10), pp.92-99

2. Nguyen Thi Thinh (2014), "The ideology of male superiority and female inferiority through some concepts of status and educational content of women in feudal times",Journal of Social Psychology(1), pp.80 – 86

3. Nguyen Thi Thinh (2014), “Ideas to fight against gender prejudice against women expressed in Vietnamese folk songs, proverbs and idioms”,Journal of Social Psychology(4), pp.104 – 111

4. Nguyen Thi Thinh (2015), “Gender stereotypes about the personality of female farmers in rural areas of the Red River Delta expressed in terms of perception”,Journal of Social Psychology(7), pp.15 – 23

5. Nguyen Thi Thinh (2015), “Gender stereotypes about female farmers' personalities expressed through their behavior” (Survey of rural areas in the Red River Delta),Journal of Social Psychology(9), pp.83 – 92

INFORMATION ON DOCTORAL THESIS

1. Full name: Nguyen Thi Thinh 2. Sex: Female

3. Date of birth: September, 16^th, 1981 4. Place of birth: Ninh Binh

5. Admission decision number: 3076/QD–SDH, dated October 28, 2009, University of Social Sciences & Humanities, Vietnam National University.

6. Changes in academic process: Changing the thesis's name according to the decision number: 355/QD – SDH, dated March 20, 2012, University of Social Sciences & Humanities, Vietnam National University.

7. Official thesis title: “Gender bias against traits of rural women in the Red river delta”

8. Major: Social psychology Code: Pilot training major

9. Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Vu Dung

10. Summary of the new findings of the thesis:

In recent years there have been many studies on prejudice against women, yet studies on prejudice against rural women's traits remain few. This thesis contributes to social psychological theories on social bias and gender bias to women.

The empirical study conducted in this thesis shows that bias against women's traits exists both among family members and community members. Gender prejudice was more evident in behavioral aspects than in cognitive and emotional aspects. This finding implies that although people were aware of the existence of gender bias and its limitations and expressed negative emotions to it, they still carried out prejudicial behaviors towards rural women. As a result, it requires a thorough program to eliminate bias, from the family to society, from cognition to behavior. The focus should be on rural people, especially rural males.

The thesis also studied predictors of prejudice against rural women. Confucian patriarchal ideology was one of the strongest predictors of prejudice. Another factor was women's self-prejudice. Rural women were unconfident in expressing their abilities in the family as well as in the society. As a result, women need to eliminate self-prejudice before thinking about eliminating social prejudice against themselves.

11. Practical applicability, if any:

The findings of the thesis contribute to theories of gender discrimination against women in Vietnam. It could be used as supplementary teaching materials in universities and colleges in Vietnam.

The results also contribute to the effective implementation of gender equality policies in our country; helping rural women to understand the causes of gender bias to themselves, and providing them with better solutions to this issue.

12. Further research directions, if any:

Future research could examine and compare gender bias against women of different occupations and social classes.

13. Thesis - related publications:

1. Nguyen Thi Thinh (2013), “Some gender-based biased verses notions of women's characters and abilities is expressed in Vietnamese proverbs and folk folk”,Journal of psychology(10), pp.92-99

2. Nguyen Thi Thinh (2014), “Sexism in feudalist notions of women's position and education”,Journal of social psychology(1), pp.80-86

3. Nguyen Thi Thinh (2014), “Ideologies against gender discrimination in Vietnamese idioms”,Journal of social psychology(4), pp.104 – 111

4. Nguyen Thi Thinh (2015), “Gender prejudice about rural women's characters in Red river Delta is expressed cognition aspect”,Journal of social psychology(7), pp.15 – 23

5. Nguyen Thi Thinh (2015), “Gender prejudice about rural women's characters in Red river Delta is expressed by behavior aspect”,Journal of social psychology(9), pp.83 – 92