“You should care about marriage”: Vietnamese Women's experience of ambivalent sexism in the STEM workplace

Anecdotal evidence, commentary in the media, and research conducted by intergovernmental organizations in Vietnam indicate that sexism is commonly experienced by women in the Vietnamese workplace. However, few systematic studies to date have been conducted on the prevalence and types of sexism that...

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Main Authors: Dan-Tam Pham-Nguyen, Matthew McDonald
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2024-12-01
Series:SSM - Mental Health
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666560324000380
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author Dan-Tam Pham-Nguyen
Matthew McDonald
author_facet Dan-Tam Pham-Nguyen
Matthew McDonald
author_sort Dan-Tam Pham-Nguyen
collection DOAJ
description Anecdotal evidence, commentary in the media, and research conducted by intergovernmental organizations in Vietnam indicate that sexism is commonly experienced by women in the Vietnamese workplace. However, few systematic studies to date have been conducted on the prevalence and types of sexism that Vietnamese women experience. This cross-sectional exploratory study seeks to inquire into women's experiences of sexism in the STEM field and its potential associations with mental health outcomes through the lens of ambivalent sexism theory, which categorizes sexism as benevolent and hostile. Vietnamese women employed in STEM (N = 148) completed online questionnaires assessing experiences of ambivalent sexism, perceived stress and perceived sexism, stress symptoms, depression, and anxiety. The results indicate that benevolent sexism is more common than hostile sexism and that younger women are more frequently targeted. Correlation and regression analyses indicate that benevolent and hostile sexism are positively correlated with women's mental health problems. The findings highlight that despite the gains made in workplace gender equality in Vietnam, sexism continues to pose a problem for women's career development in STEM as well as potential health and safety issues. The study concludes with measures that organizations can undertake to tackle the problem and recommendations for future research in Vietnam to build on this exploratory inquiry.
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spelling doaj-art-2ca09ed03eff4eb380cc89ce016440fb2025-08-20T01:59:39ZengElsevierSSM - Mental Health2666-56032024-12-01610033310.1016/j.ssmmh.2024.100333“You should care about marriage”: Vietnamese Women's experience of ambivalent sexism in the STEM workplaceDan-Tam Pham-Nguyen0Matthew McDonald1Corresponding author.; Department of Psychology, Fulbright University Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet NamDepartment of Psychology, Fulbright University Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet NamAnecdotal evidence, commentary in the media, and research conducted by intergovernmental organizations in Vietnam indicate that sexism is commonly experienced by women in the Vietnamese workplace. However, few systematic studies to date have been conducted on the prevalence and types of sexism that Vietnamese women experience. This cross-sectional exploratory study seeks to inquire into women's experiences of sexism in the STEM field and its potential associations with mental health outcomes through the lens of ambivalent sexism theory, which categorizes sexism as benevolent and hostile. Vietnamese women employed in STEM (N = 148) completed online questionnaires assessing experiences of ambivalent sexism, perceived stress and perceived sexism, stress symptoms, depression, and anxiety. The results indicate that benevolent sexism is more common than hostile sexism and that younger women are more frequently targeted. Correlation and regression analyses indicate that benevolent and hostile sexism are positively correlated with women's mental health problems. The findings highlight that despite the gains made in workplace gender equality in Vietnam, sexism continues to pose a problem for women's career development in STEM as well as potential health and safety issues. The study concludes with measures that organizations can undertake to tackle the problem and recommendations for future research in Vietnam to build on this exploratory inquiry.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666560324000380BenevolentHostileSexismExploratorySTEMWomen
spellingShingle Dan-Tam Pham-Nguyen
Matthew McDonald
“You should care about marriage”: Vietnamese Women's experience of ambivalent sexism in the STEM workplace
SSM - Mental Health
Benevolent
Hostile
Sexism
Exploratory
STEM
Women
title “You should care about marriage”: Vietnamese Women's experience of ambivalent sexism in the STEM workplace
title_full “You should care about marriage”: Vietnamese Women's experience of ambivalent sexism in the STEM workplace
title_fullStr “You should care about marriage”: Vietnamese Women's experience of ambivalent sexism in the STEM workplace
title_full_unstemmed “You should care about marriage”: Vietnamese Women's experience of ambivalent sexism in the STEM workplace
title_short “You should care about marriage”: Vietnamese Women's experience of ambivalent sexism in the STEM workplace
title_sort you should care about marriage vietnamese women s experience of ambivalent sexism in the stem workplace
topic Benevolent
Hostile
Sexism
Exploratory
STEM
Women
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666560324000380
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