Teacher Trekker

The Vietnamese Women’s Museum is located on Ly Thuong Kiet Street approximately two blocks south of Hoan Kiem Lake. The museum was conceived in 1987 by the Vietnam Woman’s Union. Construction began in a preexisting building in 1991. It was officially opened in 1995, and later a renovation project paid in part by the government, the Union and the Ford Foundation upgraded the building between 2006 and 2010. It was reopened to the public in 2010 as a gender museum dedicated to telling the story of the women of Vietnam. Today, the museum contains approximately 28,000 artifacts connected to Vietnamese women.

The museum focuses on the role Vietnamese women have played in the country’s past and present. The museum is broken down into four main sections. There are the permanent exhibitions including Women in Family, Women in History and Women in Fashion. These exhibits take up the majority of the museum and are dedicated to local cultural traditions and roles of women. There is a special exhibition area that is dedicated to temporary exhibits mostly aimed at contemporary social change. There is also a discovery center primarily used for students and children. Finally, there is a museum shop with a variety of souvenirs, clothes and reading material. Beyond the physical museum, there are also virtual exhibits available online via the official website and mobile exhibitions that often tour women’s unions, universities and schools throughout the provinces.

Making Your Way to the Museum

From my hotel, the museum was only a quick walk away. The same applies for most Hanoi tourists, particularly anyone staying in or near the Old Quarter & Hoan Kiem Lake. If it took me more than 15 minutes, it was because I was walking slowly and purchasing some street food along the way. Despite how close it was, I still had an issue locating the building.

I easily navigated my way to the corner that my tourist map indicated the museum to be located. It wasn’t there, and after making a 360 degree turn, I still couldn’t find it. The street numbers did not lead me directly there, so rather than walk around, I stopped and asked a hotel doorman, who was able to point out the large green window panes of the adjacent building. (See image above.) Keep in mind that many tourists maps are simplified and indicate that the museum is on the corner of the block. This is not the case. It is actually half way down the block in a building that is recessed from the sidewalk so it is not the easiest place to spot.

If you are any further than Old Quarter or touring another location in different district in Hanoi, you may consider taking a cab to the museum. This should eliminate the issues above, unless you get a completely clueless or scheming taxi driver.

Entering the Museum

After locating the entrance to the museum, it was first necessary to purchase an entrance ticket. The booth was directly to your left as you walked past the front gate. It only cost 30,000 dong to enter as an adult with discounts for students and seniors. I then proceeded to make my way across the small courtyard, up the steps and into the main entrance where my ticket was checked before gaining full access to the museum.

On the first floor there is a museum gift shop, a discovery center, a locker storage area and information desk. Visitors can use either the stairs or an elevator to make their way up to the exhibition areas.

Second Floor – Women in Family

This part of the permanent collection is dedicated to the daily lives of Vietnamese women. The majority of the exhibit tracks the life cycle and includes many of the traditions and customs associated with various ethnic minorities that comprise the nation.

The Birth Exhibit includes explanations and examples of rituals associated with requesting a child, pregnancy protection, naming of newborns, protecting mothers & newborns. There was also information about medical consultations, medicinal plants and delivery methods. The collection included traditional and modern medical equipment as well as ritual based artifacts.

The Marriage Exhibit included information about both patriarchal and matriarchal ethnic groups. For example, Mnông Gar people are matriarchal while the Yao are patriarchal. Each ethnic group has many unique customs. Artifacts included engagement boxes and other marriage related paraphernalia.

The Family Life Exhibit is dedicated to the everyday lives of women. There are sections about agriculture, fishing & foraging, preparing meals, pottery, sewing & weaving, and raising children. An additional portion of the second floor was about small businesses related to women. For example, many work as street vendors who carry their goods on bicycles everyday to and from the market. Artifacts included various tools and equipment used to conduct many of the tasks women are responsible for on a daily basis historically and during contemporary times.

Also on the second floor is a small cinema room. I stayed to watch a video of traditional dancing, but the room was too hot to bear the heat for too long. There wasn’t any air conditioning, nor did they have a fan running. The air was so stagnant, I couldn’t stay for more than a minute or two before I made my way up to the next floor.

Special Exhibit – Mother Goddess Exhibit

This temporary exhibition explains a great deal about Vietnamese traditions and beliefs, specifically the concept of the Mother Goddess. When you entered the room there was a sample altar with explanations of its meaning. Cultures around the world may use different terms like Mother Earth or Gaia, but essentially all are connected to the personification of nature, fertility and motherhood. As I made my way through the exhibit, the placards became very detailed, some of which I understood and others had concepts that were completely foreign to me even after reading the provided information.

There were many different small sections of this exhibit. Portions of the collection included first-hand accounts of local Vietnamese who explain their connection and importance in the Mother Goddess. Other sections displayed clothing, costumes, and votive paper making, with samples of a mountain cave and dragon boat. Another area showed musical instruments and explained the joy the music creates between the medium, spectators and musicians as the ritual takes place. These sections were all in relation to the ceremonies and customs associated with Mother Goddess. I always welcome new historical and cultural information, and this temporary exhibition was no exception.

Third Floor – Women in History

This part of the permanent collection is dedicated to the efforts made by the women of Vietnam during revolution, political turmoil and eventually war. This portion of the museum details the roles that women played during wars of resistance against foreign invaders. It also included information about the daily lives of women during wartime. There were many stories that highlighted major contributions, glorious acts and personal self-sacrifice taken by women for the benefit of Vietnam as a whole.

There were many sections to this exhibition. They were divided according to time periods. First, there was the 1930-1945 revolutionaries & political battles prior to and during the Japanese Occupation of World War II. Then there was the 1946-1954 guerrillas and 1946-1954 civil resistance movements who resisted and fought against the French Neocolonial Imperialism government that attempted to reclaim their former colony following World War II until their eventual defeat and withdrawal from Vietnam.

The largest sections on the third floor were dedicated to the years associated with the American War in Vietnam. This section begins in 1954 with the rise in American interest and foreign policy goals in Southeast Asia until its eventual escalation into full scale war by 1965. The section ends in 1975 with the fall of Saigon and the exit of the American military from Vietnam.

Since this was the largest portion of the third floor exhibit, it was further subdivided for organizational purposes into sections for both South & North Vietnam. The Southern Vietnam section included displays pertaining to: political battles, armed battles, prison battles, and caring for the wounded. The Northern Vietnam section included displays pertaining to: life during the war, the Vinh Linh Tunnels (nothing but some drawings and tools), young volunteers & soldiers, and the militia.

The floor is filled with a plethora of different types of artifacts. There are your typical Vietnam War related pieces in the collection. There are government issued documents including party doctrines, identification cards (often used for subversive action) and propaganda posters. The collection includes military equipment used during campaigns against the American and South Vietnamese (Army of the Republic of Vietnam – ARVN) forces. There is medical equipment signifying the role women played as nurses and doctors. Then there were many personal effects of women, including a portion for those women involved in direct action against their enemies. They include clothing, diaries, drawings, and family photos. I found these individual items to evoke much more emotion and thought than the generic war related pieces that can be found at all of Vietnam’s war museums.

The final section on this floor was related to 1975 and the Reunification of Vietnam with brief informational plaques about the Paris Peace Accords and the Ho Chi Minh Campaign with general information.

Special Exhibition – “Historic Personages”

A small section outside pertained to the “Heroic Mothers of Vietnam” who many years after the battle for reunification were awarded this honor. This is not to be confused with the honors given during the American War. To qualify, a woman needed to have “lost more than two children, their only child, only one child, or their husband and children, or their own life” during the conflict. “In December 2008, almost 50,000 women received the title, some posthumously.” Considering my interest in the war, it was an interesting little exhibit, but lacked the depth and detail that I would have liked to have seen developed in the temporary collection.

Fourth Floor – Women in Fashion

This part of the permanent collection is dedicated to the various clothing and jewelry worn by the 54 ethnic groups that can be found throughout Vietnam. Personally, this was the least interesting of all the collections, but I wasn’t going to skip it. Throughout the floor there is women’s clothing from various time periods, including the traditional ethnic minorities. There were many different sections dedicated to general fashion and motif art, embroidery, woven patterns and jewelry.

Other sections presented textile production techniques and customs with which I was less familiar. Batik is a saved dye technique where “part of the fabric is protected by wax during the dying process creating a pattern”. Ikat is similar to batik, “but the threads and not the fabric are protected before the dyeing process”. Applique is a process where “small pieces of colored fabric are sewn on to a background to create patterns”. There were also sections on the traditions associated with the use of betel nut and lacquering teeth.

Special Exhibition – “Destiny of Today’s Women”

Just outside the permanent collection was a small room with another temporary exhibit entitled “Destiny of Today’s Women”. It contained informational plaques and short videos about 5 women. Each provided a brief outline of the initial struggles the individual woman endured and their path to eventual success. They were not all rags to riches stories, but all demonstrated growth in one or more of the political, economic or social fields.

Top Floor – Special Exhibit

At the time of my visit (July 2015) the top floor was set up as the Menifique Art Museum. It was all modern art produced by Vietnamese artists. All of it was for sale. With one exception, all of the pieces were some sort of abstractly drawn images of misshappen human forms. They were painted on canvas with what appeared to be oil, but could as easily have been acrylic. Sorry it’s not my expertise. I was not overwhelmed by the work, but what do I know about the Hanoi art scene? Nothing.

Conclusions

Overall, the Vietnamese Women’s Museum was worth the visit. My favorite floor, by far, was the third floor, as it pertained directly to the political and military history of Vietnam during the twentieth century. The collection provided detailed information that demonstrated the significant role that women played during the history of modern Vietnam. They were mothers, farmers, artisans, engineers, nurses, soldiers, heroes, but above all equals. That being said, I also enjoyed the other collections particularly the Mother Goddess exhibit, but it will sadly probably be removed by the time you get there to visit the museum. It was quite interesting learning about more traditional Vietnamese customs and rituals with which I am less familiar in the Women in Family & Women in Fashion permanent collections.

Many other portions of the museum provided detailed information about the various ethnic groups that live throughout Vietnam, allowing visitors to gain insight into the local customs of many diverse minorities without ever visiting. If someone did this at the beginning of a holiday in Vietnam, it may help some travelers determine where they want to visit based on the locations of the ethnic groups. Most ,if not all of them, will require a trip to a more remote area of Vietnam, but the trip will be an experience of a lifetime.

A final note, the museum is not the coolest place to visit. This is actually pretty common throughout the country, and don’t expect a true break from the heat. Many areas are air conditioned or have fans running, but if you’re not directly in front of the blowing air you will instantly start sweating. If you need to take a break, do it inside one of the main floors with the closed doors. Some, but not all, of the benches had cool air blowing towards them. I actually took a few short breaks and wrote many notes this article during those instances. All of the rooms I visited on the periphery of the building lacked proper ventilation systems and made touring the exhibits more uncomfortable than roaming around the jungles of Vietnam. There are bathrooms and a museum employee available for assistance on every floor. There is also a donation box as you exit the museum that you may choose to use.

Vietnamese Women’s Museum Information

Hours of Operation: 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Address: 36 Ly Thuong Kiet, Hoan Kiem, Ha Noi, Viet Nam Ha Noi Hoan Kiem
Telephone Number: (+84-4) 38259936
Fax Number: (+84-4) 38259129
Email Address: info@baotangphunu.org.vn