Gender Equality and Women's Land Inheritance Disputes in Vietnam

This thesis explores the main barriers women face when they seek to claim their land inheritance rights in local courts. Through a series of in-depth interviews with Vietnamese female litigants, lawyers, court officials (clerks and judges), local officials, and chairwomen of the Vietnamese Women's Union, this thesis finds that the most common barriers to women's successful assertion of their land inheritance rights are Confucian thought (such as the desire to live harmoniously and to avoid litigation), the lack of judicial independence of Vietnamese court system, and the low quality of the professional legal service, local officials, and chairwomen of the Vietnamese Women's Union.