Gender Differences of Citizen Participation in Local Government: The Case of Vietnam

Lily - Trinh Hoang Hong Hue

Abstract


Citizen participation has been largely considered as an important objective of improving democracy and government decision-making in Vietnam recently. Based on the dataset of the Public Administration Performance Index Survey data (PAPI), Vietnamese women tend to actively participate in local government rather than men do. Hence, this study aims to explore distinct factors affect gender differences of citizen participation in local government in Vietnam. Applying qualitative approach through in-depth interview, besides objective factors such as political institutions, policy environment, and social networking, this article finds out some subjective major factors influencing citizen participation such as belief of people, educational level, age, sex, household conditions. Furthermore, this study also identifies three crucial reasons that leading to the differences of citizen participation at the local level between women and men in the context of Vietnam including political attitudes and interests, role in family, and the role of mass organizations.


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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5296/jpag.v9i3.15030

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