WATERING THE NEIGHBOUR'S GARDEN: THE GROWING - CICRED

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LE BACH D. –D. BÉLANGER –KHUAT T. H.
gests that ethnicity is an important dimension of trafficking, viewing
women of ethnic minorities living in mountainous communities as
particularly likely to be trafficked to China because they are poorer and
have little education. They are believed to be more easily tricked. This
view is not supported by the data collected in this study, despite the
fact that the actual population of trafficked women is unknown. One
possible explanation is that women of ethnic minorities have clung
more tightly to their traditional cultures because of their isolation and
group migratory practices, and have not been influenced by other
cultures such as the rural Vietnamese have (Kelly and Le, 1999). In
terms of religious belief, most of the studied women (89.2 percent) do
not follow any world religion. A total of 8.45 percent follow Buddhism
(the major religion in Vietnam) and 2.35 percent follow Catholicism.
Marital status: There is a very high rate of divorce, which account
for about one fourth (26.8 percent) of the total study group. This is
largely due to the fact that many had gone to China for marriage,
voluntarily or forced, and then returned or escaped to Vietnam. About
half of them (51.4 percent) are currently married, some with a husband
(Chinese) living in China at the time of the survey or the interview.
Single women account for 18.4 percent of the sample and widows
accounted for 7.5 percent.
Educational attainment: The educational levels of the respondents
are relatively low. However, most of them have some education. Only
4.2 percent are illiterate. The majority (42 percent) have attained primary
education and lower secondary education (46.2 percent). The
proportion of women with upper secondary education is low (7.5
percent).
Occupations and income: At the time of the study, 68.8 percent of the
women were unemployed. One of the reasons is that many of them
cannot easily reintegrate into the community and lack access to land.
Unemployment is always a key dimension of vulnerability regarding
poverty and risk of trafficking. Stories told by the respondents themselves
show that the need to find a job and earn an income is one of
their reasons for migrating. After leaving, many of them became victims
of traffic at place of destination. Regarding occupational structure,
a high percentage of them work in agriculture (56.3 percent). The
second largest number of women is working in low-income petty trade
and small business, accounting for 20.8 percent. Most of them work in
Ha Long and Mong Cai town. There are also many women who
worked as hired labourers (15.1 percent).
A closer examination of the nature of these hired work reveals
their low-paid and sporadic characteristics: construction assistant (phu