Abstract

Vietnam has the diversification of ethnicity and subcultures and shows a complex modernization. Child care responsibilities have shifted away from the family to the provision of daycare services in order to mobilize women into the labor force. Referring to national statistics on care provision and the brand-new Vietnam national survey on gender equality 2024, this paper aims to unpick structural and gender roles in the provision and typologies of child care in contemporary Vietnam. The paper first analyzes the development of child care policies and provisions under the forces of the transition from a centrally planned economy to a socialist market-oriented one, which has transformed the political economy of family life, and exposed Vietnamese people to liberal and individualistic western family values. Secondly, the paper emphasizes the role of gender and cultural influences on family ties under the umbrella of state policies to develop emerging child care issues for policy implications. In particular, how child care is divided at both family and social levels in the context of changing family functions, changing values attached to children, increasing living standards, high rates of migration, lower fertility, gender dynamics generating new family structures, and limited maternity cover.