Oanh Luu Thi NgocResearch Paper: Gender Inequality of Urban Service Industry in Asian Context 9 November, 2015

Introduction

The social development regarding gender equality in Vietnam, especially Southern part, has progressed,

when comparing the present society with the past society. Traditionally, the Vietnamese women in the southern

part were mainly involved in having lots of children and working on the farm or in the household. In

contemporary Vietnam, women’s status and rights have changed in My Tho city, which is the capital city of

Tien Giang Province in the region of South Vietnam. They work in the service industry, manufacturing, and

public relations, and are no longer limited to their traditional roles. However, as research elsewhere has shown,

women entering the labour force do not translate easily into gender equality and empowerment in the context of

a male-dominated society1 (Kabeer 2008). Unequal gender relations may reproduce the marginalization for

women through both inequalities in access to education and leadership opportunities, as well as unethical

business and sexual behaviors, which serve male self-interest and enhance masculine power. This research aims

to investigate the experience of Vietnamese women in the contemporary service industry and what factors

impact positively and negatively on women’s empowerment through work, by using an autoethnography

approach, where I examine my work experiences in the hotel, restaurant and tourism sectors in Vietnam and

Bangladesh.

Research question

What are the barriers to women’s empowerment in the urban hospitality industry?

Literature Review

Sexual harassment and sexualization in the workplace in the service industry

The laws and codes of conduct in the service industry and local social norms have not protected women

from sexual harassment in their working place2 (Masadeh, 577). One source of sexual harassment of working

women in the hospitality industry is that they tend to be located in weaker positions in the industry and often

they are recruited from social groups that are more vulnerable (immigrants, minorities, lower-income groups,

young women) (Pinar et al, 3). In the hospitality industry, issues of sexual harassment are further complicated

1Kabeer, Naila. “Paid Work, Women’s Empowerment and Gender Justice: Critical Pathways of Social Change”. 2 Masadeh, Mousa. “Women in the Hotel Industry: What’s missing from this picture?” International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Science. January 2013, Vol. 3, No. 1. ISSN: 2222-6990

1

by the fact that flirting is often understood to be a required skill of the service (Gilbert, Guerrier and Guy, 50).

While those female service workers who do not accept this service style can become excluded or ignored by

their employers, other female services see this as normal. For example in a study on American women service

workers in the hospitality industry, researchers found that 18.8% of women treat sexual harassment as a minor

issue (Gilbert , Guerrier and Guy 49). The normalization and internalization of sexual harassment behavior in

the hospitality industry is linked to the fact that “Due to the lack of legitimate, coercive, reward, or expert

power, the service worker may have to rely on referent power; that is, to be socially attractive and friendly with

the customer (Gilbert, Guerrier and Guy 49).” For women this includes their sexualization at the workplace in

the hospitality industry. This sexualization of women in the service industry has several consequences for the

status of women: 1) all women in the service industry are seen to be available for sex; 2) the women in the

service sector are viewed as threats to institutions of marriage; and 3) the women in the service sector

themselves experience challenges in their own marriages and relationships, because of this perception that

women in the service industry are providing sex (or are being sexually harassed).

Well-being of women in the service industry

In addition to the psychological stress that sexual harassment can cause, women’s well-being in the

hospitality industry is impacted on by several additional factors. The low income provided by the hotel and

tourist industry does not support women’s expense on their beautification and health insurance,3 which are seen

as essential to their ability to work in the industry (Ng and Pine, 86). The pressure on the public presentation of

the self in the service industry necessitates good looking appearance and the polite behaviors of the women 4

(West,128). The pressure to be polite and attractive even in the face of unwanted behavior can produce mental

exhaustion and psychological depression. Moreover the industry often requires women to be working away

from the home, including overnight work and irregular hours, which can also lead to both physical exhaustion

and additional mental stress (created in part by conflict between work and family). (Gilbert, Guerrir and Guy,

49; Pinar et al, 3; “Developments and Challenges in the Hospitality and Tourism Sector”, 16-17) 5. . Well-being

3 Catherine, W.Ng, Ray Pine. “Women and Men in Hotel Management in Hong Kong: perceptions of gender and career development issues”. International Journal of Hospitality Management 22 (2003), pp. 85-1024 West, Candace, Don H.Zimmerman. “Doing Gender”. Gender and Society, Vol. 1, No.2 (Jun, 1987), pp. 125-1515 Pinar, Musa, McCuddy, Michael K., Birkan Ibrahim, and Kozak, Metin. “Gender Diversity in the Hospitality Industry: an Empirical Study in Turkey”. International Journal of Hospitality Management, March 2011.

2

of women in the hospitality industry is also impacted by the fact that their employment status is as a contractor

rather than an employee. Examining the golf industry and “umbrella girls” in the Philippines, Gonzalez (49)

writes how they are dependent on the whims and availability of customers and weather, and have no benefits

(health insurance, a base salary) provided by employee status. Tips and customers’ good graces become central

to the ability of women to maintain their livelihoods in certain parts of the hospitality industry, creating not

only challenges in securing access to well-being services, but also creating sources of mental and physical

stress. At the same time, women also speak of the advantages of this kind of situation in that 1) the money is

more instant (rather than waiting for a salary) 2) the women feel like their own bosses and 3) it provides them

with flexibility, especially in comparison to other kinds of employment such as work in the manufacturing

sector such as jobs in factories in the export processing zones (Gonzalez 50).

Class and gender in the service industry

For many women with limited formal and recognized skills, the hospitality industry provides an

employment and income-generating opportunity that they would not have otherwise (“Developments and

Challenges in the Hospitality and Tourism Sector”,14). However, this also creates very different experiences

between women and men from higher socio-economic groups in the industry and those from lower socio-

economic group:

A divergence between qualifications and workplace reality is observable for women, who make up between 60

and 70 per cent of the labour force. Unskilled or semi-skilled women tend to work in the most vulnerable jobs,

where they are more likely to experience poor working conditions, inequality of opportunity and treatment,

violence, exploitation, stress and sexual harassment. They also suffer segregation in terms of access to education

and training. Women are on average paid 25 per cent less in the sector than male workers for comparable skills.

(“Developments and Challenges in the Hospitality and Tourism Sector”, 15)

Long-term employment and qualified working condition are for possible for those (women) who come from

higher socio-economic status groups At the same time, the educated female employees may be discriminated

by being directly and indirectly criticized. Therefore, they suffer from the prejudice of their boss without fair

judgment and opportunity to make effort because the higher rungs of decision-making power are still occupied

mainly by men (“Development…Sector”, 14). At the same time, the long working hours of the labors,

3

especially female labors, challenge their social and economic roles because of its ineffectiveness and low

income6 (“Development…Sector”,14). Thus we see how class and gender interacts to negatively influence

women’s work experiences in the hospitality sector.

The social discrimination against the migrant labors in the service industry

The working class who work on supplementary services are migrant labors, and they need more social

care and tolerance of where they work and live. The migrants and refugees face challenges while working on

the service industry because of social exclusion and discrimination7 (Pinar, 3). The income of migrant women is

lower than the one of local women because the labor contract is ignored, which threatens the well-being, social

and political right, and economic opportunity of the migrant workers. The relationship in the workplace

represents exploitative economic relation. (Baum…) The migrant women cannot speak out for what they

deserve. Instead, they become obedient, silent, and acceptable without any respect for expressing ideas due to

the violation of cultural difference. The diversity of the hospitality industry is discouraged and controlled by the

local nationals who are bosses, colleagues, and customers in Asian context (Baum, 15). Due to the

discrimination against migrants and ethnicity, the customers tend to criticize the migrant service officers

indirectly and cause sexual harassment, economic exploitation to force the labors to give up the job.

Feminization but no leadership

The service industry in My Tho city, like other parts of the service and hospitality sector, is

characterized by a feminization of the labour force; however, there is less female leadership than male one.

Feminization forces women to take on certain social roles and business positions8such as “co-workers,

supervisors” rather than working as leaders and managers. in the working place (Catherine, 90). There is no

standard for women to practice leadership as management because of following masculine hierarchy and male

power. Under the standard of male authority, women possess soft skills to comfort male boss and colleagues

instead of showing their power and ability directly. There is neither representation of strong determined women

nor requirement of protective skills for the women in the hospitality industry. People trust in women less than

6

7 Pinar, Musa, Metin Kozak. “Gender Diversity in the Hospitality Industry: an Emperial Study in Turkey”. International Journal of

Hospitality Management, March 2011. 8 Gonzalez, Vernadette V. Today’ Research. Tomorrow’s Inspiration: “Military Base: ‘Royalty Trips,’ and Imperial Modernities: Gendered and Racialized Labor in the Postcolonial Philippines”. A Journal of Women Studies, Vol. 28, No.3, 2007, pp. 28-59.

4

in men due to the dominant masculine ethics (97). Women are not allowed to enjoy their work and family life;

instead, they are forced to work hard and willing to sacrifice their career for any requirement of men without

rejection (Mousa, 577). The feminized role in the workplace is the supporter of male authority without any right

of rejection, voluntary attitude, and independent skills at job-which are the factors to the leadership.

The standard of female leadership that the local women have not achieved

The requirement of these jobs belonging to hotels, restaurants, and tourism supports the women to be

out of their household and participate in society as well as politics9 (“Global Report…Findings”, 4). In the

context of Asia, the percentage of women participating in the service industry is the lowest in comparison with

the other regions10 (4). Particularly in My Tho city, Vietnam, the number of female participation in the service

industry is low due to the high rate of participation in manufacture, production in the developing country. There

are different ways to measure the leadership of women in the service industry such as public and private sector,

management at local and national level, and influence on the community11 (5). The high opportunity to

employment cannot support women financially regarding the high rate of losing the contemporary job due to

the lack of trust in female leadership and management in Asian context. Indeed men still like to control and are

jealous of what women achieve regardless of family and friendship. If women either earn higher income or are

talented than men, the male friends and colleagues never stop criticizing and find ways to cut off their income

to make them disappointed and lose the confidence in their capability. Therefore, the standard of female

leadership in the Asian context is low regarding the masculine control and disrespect for the process of female

empowerment in them.

In short, this literature review has shown that while the hospitality and service sector provides employment

opportunities for women and can accommodate particular needs such as flexibility of hours, it also tends to

create barriers to empowerment due to issues of sexual harassment, precarious working conditions, a stratified

workplace where men hold more leadership positions in the sector compared to women, and the continued

gendered division of labour in the home which place the bulk of household work and care work on women.

9 Global Report on Women in Tourism 2010: Preliminary Findings”. World Tourism Organization and United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Employment of Women, 2011.10 Global Report on Women in Tourism 2010: Preliminary Findings”. World Tourism Organization and United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Employment of Women, 2011.11 Global Report on Women in Tourism 2010: Preliminary Findings”. World Tourism Organization and United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Employment of Women, 2011.

5

Methodology

Different from the quantitative research that collect the number of hotels, restaurants, and tourist

companies, my qualitative research investigate the gender issues through personal stories and informal

interviews12 (Delysa, 410). The specific qualitative methodology of this paper is one based on autoethnography.

Autoethnography in this research is to experience in different social and economic contexts in order to

investigate how ethnicity and migrant labors represent themselves in the urban service industry in Vietnamese

context. I have used reflective writing by keeping asking myself a lot of questions about my experiences in the

service industry. Working on the research, I had to work as the service workers or service officers to understand

their cases. I utilized both participant observation and interviews in this study, which sometimes produced

conflicting challenges. For example, observation required me to minimize how my role would impact on the

worksite, while atthe same time, making interview required me to be close to the respondents and communicate

with them. Not all respondents are ready to share ideas and answer my questions regarding their personality,

position in the working place, and the concern about personal security. 13(Burnier, 412). When I participate in

experience in different contexts including workplace, clubs, and public areas, my own identity is also impacted

since interactions with co-workers, customers and supervisors led me to construct my identity from them14

(Wall, 3). I am like an insider because I come from the same national context with my respondents. However, I

am an outsider because I had different educational and professional experiences compared to those I was

working with.,15 (Wall, 2). The interrogation of my identity makes me question who I am constantly and figure

out who others are around me, especially my informants politically, culturally, and economically. I do not

engage to dominate the conversation with my informants as the way to show my respect for their speech, job,

and position. Being the outsider of the conversation is a way to stay with my position of an observer with

objective point of view while gathering different subjectivities16 (Delysa, 411).

12 Burnier, Delysa. “Encounters with the Self in Social Science Research: a Political Scientist Looks at Autoethnography”. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Vol. 35, No. 4, August 2006, pp. 410-41813 Burnier, Delysa. “Encounters with the Self in Social Science Research: a Political Scientist Looks at Autoethnography”. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Vol. 35, No. 4, August 2006, pp. 410-41814 Wall, Sarah. “An autoethnography on Learning about Autoethnography”. International Journal of Qualitative Methods 5 (2) June 2006. 15 Wall, Sarah. “An autoethnography on Learning about Autoethnography”. International Journal of Qualitative Methods 5 (2) June 200616 Burnier, Delysa. “Encounters with the Self in Social Science Research: a Political Scientist Looks at Autoethnography”. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Vol. 35, No. 4, August 2006, pp. 410-418

6

In this paper, I examine three specific experiences in the service industry. I first describe the process by which

I entered each of these experiences. The experiences are listed in chronological order.

1. Hotels

In order to take the position of the observer, I applied for the job with short-term contract in My Tho City.

During the time being the paid intern, I learnt how to be the hotel receptionist and the cleaning staff. For one

and haft month being with my informants, I got the chances to communicate, discuss, and have conversations

with them.

2. Restaurants

This experience was based in Chittagong, Bangladesh, during my undergraduate studies. Different from the

case in my own hometown, I needed to ask for the introduction letter of one professor to apply for the paid

internship in Bangladesh. Since I was an international student with a student visa, I was not allowed to have

paid job. However, the one month contract gave me a chance to communicate with my informants with both

verbal and non-verbal language. I worked as a service officer that was called the restaurant manager. This case

allowed me to gain some experience as a “migrant worker” in the hospitality industry.

3. Tourism

Different from the case of the hotel, I applied for the part-time job to work for different tourist companies in

My Tho City. Some support me, but some do not support me. I worked as the co-workers for the tourist

companies to observe how seasonal tourist guides work for three weeks. I got the chances to listen to their

conversations, complaints, and ideas on every weekend, not during the whole week.

Three years ago, I was the trainee of the tourist company for two and half months. At the same time, I had a

part-time job for another tourist company as the co-worker. After three years, I worked as the co-workers for

different tourist companies on every weekend for three weeks. The data I gather is impacted by the conflict

between professional requirement of the local government and companies and the ethical behavior of the social

scientific observer17 (Delysa, 413). I could not be a tour guide if I did not have any professional identification

card. I did not take regular trips as the other tour guides did because I was not trained to be a professional tour

17 Burnier, Delysa. “Encounters with the Self in Social Science Research: a Political Scientist Looks at Autoethnography”. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Vol. 35, No. 4, August 2006, pp. 410-418

7

guide. Indeed, the training course specializes someone’s knowledge to take on one specific skill better. Yet it

distracted the objectivity of hospitality industry regarding the social issues. The majority of the local tour

guides had one concern about how to make more money than the other colleagues regardless of giving someone

else opportunities and protecting the innocent employees. The trust of family power made them discriminate

against the new employees and take off the opportunities of the others, especially the ethnicity or immigrants.

Those immigrants and ethnicity who could earn money from this service had to gain less opportunities and

lower income despite working the same place and position. Even though hospitality industry attracts the

migrant workers, the local tour guides in My Tho are constructed by the political identity of socialism and

nationalism in the international environment.

Limitations of Study

The weakness of the study is the conflicting expectations between my expectation and the local people’s

expectation. The Vietnamese people is different from the Western and American people because they will talk

more about themselves if I answer to almost their questions and throughout the process I struggled to make

decisions regarding whether I should hide or tell my personal information to the informants18 (Delysa, 415).

The Asian community prefers to the value of humility and avoiding saying something directly. That is called

dishonesty according to the Western perspective; therefore, the local ethical communication challenges my

Western ethical communication, which I have gained through my education in a more western curriculum. The

longer I stay in the local community where I do research, the more I feel challenging to be both the researcher

and a local person with the association of my community19 (Delysa, 416).

Case Studies

1. Hotel Industry in My Tho city

1. Position and Responsibility

In hotel 1, I worked as a cleaner for one and half day. My duty was cleaning rooms in the hotel.

In hotel 2, I worked as a hotel receptionist for one week and as an English teacher for one month. As the

hotel receptionist, my duties were to arrange rooms for customers, communicate with the customers, service

18 Burnier, Delysa. “Encounters with the Self in Social Science Research: a Political Scientist Looks at Autoethnography”. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Vol. 35, No. 4, August 2006, pp. 410-41819 Burnier, Delysa. “Encounters with the Self in Social Science Research: a Political Scientist Looks at Autoethnography”. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Vol. 35, No. 4, August 2006, pp. 410-418

8

workers, and bosses, as well as sell rooms online. I also taught the hotel receptionists English to help them

communicate with foreign customers for one month.

2. Social Interaction with Boss

There was the cultural conflict between the overseas Vietnamese and the Vietnamese living in the country,

or between the female service worker (myself) and the female hotel manager (my boss). The barrier to language

and lifestyle that both the overseas Vietnamese like me and some customers and the Vietnamese had

experienced made them misunderstand each other. The lack of tolerance on the immigrant leaded the female

labor like me to be economically exploited and socially excluded. I got complaints from the boss about what I

did almost every day in the public place, particularly the front desk. According to the rule of the local hotel

where I worked, the hotel receptionist knew how to respond to male flirting or flirt male customers by words.

Due to my unwillingness to that kind of communication, my behavior was considered rude. In addition to the

difference in customer-employee communication, there were also differences in the manager-employee

communication styles. For example, I kept asking a lot of questions to my colleagues and my boss. However,

the communication between the boss and her employees was not based on questions but rules and willing to

work without questions. Even though the boss and my colleagues said, “You can ask any question. I am ready

to show you what to do”, what they expect from me was let me work and follow instead of questioning. The

boss said to me, “You should choose another job. I offer you to teach English my employees”. During the

working period, I wrote detailed information on the notebooks of the customers including the sex workers. The

rule of the hotel was to protect the personal information of the sex workers. They said to me, “You did not have

ability to remember things such as room numbers, price, and other things”. This means that there is the

economic contract between the hotel receptionist and sex workers. The protection of hotel receptionists and

mangager for the sex workers brings into the economic benefit to this kind of hospitality industry in longer

term. This indicates the social and economic develoment of sex industry in the local regardless of the

governmental restriction. Once I argued with one old male customer who rent two rooms for two women, he

had the copy of identification card and required me to give me back to run around. I did not know he was the

friend of the boss, so I did not allow him to take the copy with him because I did not want him to run away.

After that, I got fired with half of the contractual salary. This means the employer exploited the employees by

9

breaking the labor contract. In the manager office, she said, “the customer complained about your impolite

attitude toward him; therefore, you should not work here. I do not want any customer to complain about this

hotel”. This saying indicates the employee was hired with low income that was around two or two and half

milion dong (one hundred dolar per month) and cheated by the manager in the hotel. Yet the hotel receptionist

had no right to complain about the customers no matter if they tease, abuse, or insult the service worker like

me. At the same time, they have no right to complaint about the bussiness of their manager in the hotel. The

short-term labor contract without hard copy cannot protect the well-being and health insurance for the hotel

receptionist and other service workers. No on protects the service worker if the manager breaks up the rule of

labor contract without any printed paper. This kind of social and economic contract brings economic profits to

the employers and exploits the employees physically and socially because the service worker became to subject

to be discriminated by both the manager and customers. With regard as the family business, the employees

worked with scarcity under the supervision of the boss and her family members during day and night when the

camera was set almost everywhere. This means the hotel manager and I had some conflicts regarding cultural

behaviors, language, and the profession.

3. Social Interaction with Colleague

The social communication between me and my colleagues addressed the job and how to be a receptionist,

rather than addressing the personal life of each person. I was supposed to ask a lot of questions about how the

hotel receptionist was, which might be a bit different from Vietnamese culture. I criticized almost every thing

such as government, religion, economic class, whereas the Vietnamese colleagues talked about family, others,

and asked a lot questions about my personal experience. The Vietnamese do not trust my capability so that they

trained me for one week. If I asked, “how do I do this?, or why should not I do this ?”, they answered me, but

then they required me to look and keep quiet. The problem was I did not know how to show hospitality in

Vietnamese community, for I could not smile and feel comfortable to share my opinion with the local

colleagues and manager.

When I worked as an English teacher, I got more respect from the colleagues because I provided them with

knowledge to communicate with foreign customers. Indeed, they had passion for improving their English skill

and attended the class regularly. However, one of my students who was the niece of the hotel manager did not

10

learn English and skipped my classes, which made me disappointed. When the contract nearly ends, she said, “I

will sleep well if I do not study English anymore” in the kitchen where my English class went on. Another

female student who worked as the hotel receptionist admitted that she kept contact with some sex workers

regardless of the prohibition of the hotel rule in my class after some weeks studying English. This proves that

hotel industry supports sex industry despite the authority rule that sex industry was prohibited in this area.. For

instance, when I worked as the hotel receptionist, I should not write detailed information of the sex workers. I

was allowed to write their name and address. Some other hotel receptionist ignored writing their information

before they reported to the local police. Against the governmental prohibition on the sex industry, the city in

Vietnam is influenced by the regional sex industry that changes the pespective on sex and its relevant social and

economic relationship. The sex workers are protected by the hospitality servicers and managers from the

government to work for the hospitality industry. What the government and hotel servicers know is the same,

but they cheat each other by paper and inefficient laws on sex. My social responsibility for the female service

officers addressed the low and middle income labors, who were employees and needed improving their skills to

increase their job opportunity.

4. Social Interaction with Customers

In hotel 1, the female service officers, or cleaners, did not get any chance to communicate with the

customers. After one day working for the hotel, the elder female cleaner said, “I know you are in difficulty so

that you come here to work. …However, I can fire you due to your informal clothing. The others are easily

fired due to this manner”. What I was concerned was the nationality of the customers. I had accidently seen the

Japanese customers who reminded me of my family origin or movement. The name of the hotel reminded me of

Eastern Asia, which made me wonder where my original identity was from. I had to avoid seeing them because

I did not want the local people realize the similarity between us.

In hotel 2, the social expectation of the Vietnamese customers from hotel receptionists challenged my

cultural identity constrained by five year living abroad. They expected me to smile and communicate more with

them while serving them. This reduced the value of hospitality because the female service officers had to

sacrifice their self-expression and identity for pleasing the customers. The old overseas Vietnamese said, “I

never want to come back” when I work as the receptionist in the front desk because I did not smile as they

11

want. The scary experience is with male customers. In this hotel, I was advised by my female colleagues to be

careful to receive any request call and serve the male customers. Once, two male customers called me from

their room to ask me bring something to them. In this case, I had to ask the male colleague or security guard to

do this duty to protect myself from the male customers.

Leaving the job as the hotel receptionist, I changed my social role on teaching English and the customers

were the hotel receptionists who belonged to low and middle class. There were two kinds of customers and

students who learnt English from me. Without economic power and family relationship with the boss, two

female hotel receptionists respected for me and my teaching lessons. In contrast, within the family relationship

with the boss, the male hotel receptionist skipped my class and disrespected for my teaching. At the end of the

month when the contract is finished and the manager is supposed to give money to me, the male student said,

“It’s time to eat”. He criticized my poor income and lacked of experience; therefore, my survival depends on

the payment of his hotel. The hotel manager paid for two students and let the hotel receptionist pay for the other

one. The employees in the hotel were either family members or friends; therefore, this proves that the social

relationship constructed the requirement of employment. I got easily fired because they lacked of trust in the

outsider who was neither their friend nor family member. Similar to the case of the new female hotel

receptionist who was the friend of the official female hotel receptionist, that woman was hired in the hotel. The

social hierarchy that considered family relationship be more important than friendship and the power of

positions in the working place,. This is the way the boss wanted to show her power to her employees and

reminded them of their lower positions. This made me lose my self-esteem and scared of being exploited

economically again. The economic power reduced such value of social relationship and morality in the hotel

industry.

5. Empowerment

Hotel industry provided me with job and independent income with high requirement of public

communication and representation. The female service officers empowered themselves throughout regular

presentation and communication in public, which required the female service officer to take care of their

appearance and beauty. The social standard of middle class constructed a woman to act differently regarding

formal dressing, smiling facial expression, and the speech of knowledge, or politeness of behaviors. This high

12

standard of hotel industry could give better working condition for women to protect their well-beings unless

they were forced to overwork. There are more and more hotels in My Tho city, which was about to bring more

job to local residents, especially female service participants. The income the female service participants earned

from the hotel industry was used for expending on household and personal interests such as traveling, beauty

and health care, and shopping. Therefore, working in the hotel industry promoted the women’s social and

economic status in the urban community in My Tho city.

6. Not empowerment

The public speaking and communication has not empowered the women in the hotel industry, for the female

hotel receptionist and service participants suffer from social critique, customers’ complaints, and the boss’s

discriminative strategy. During the time training, she called me to remind me of what I should do and what I

should not do while I was taking a rest at home. She said, “I should remember that you no longer live with

Western culture. You should adapt to this place.” The working period for each hotel was from months to years,

but it did not last longer than 10 years in the private hotels. However, the working period of the public hotel

was longer, but the income was lower than the private hotels. The women working for the hotels were under the

control of masculine authority who managed the hotel. Before I was fired, the husband of the manger came to

ask me what I think about Bangladesh and directed that the cultural difference between Vietnam and

Bangladesh. He worked in Thailand and assumed that I am Thai ethnicity when I could not speak Vietnamese

properly after five years far from Vietnam. When I took night shift in the front desk, the husband of the

manager asked me in English, “how long do you want to work here? I only prefer to a long term contract”.

“Maybe around six months or one year”, answered me. The hotel receptionists in the private hotels were under

the threat to sexual harassment caused by their customers. They were teased by the male customers and

deceived to be involved in sex commerce. The hotel receptionists had less right to say no to follow what others

told them to do in order to make more money as they could. The sexual violence happened to both the hotel

receptionists and mostly sex workers who had to bear different kinds of male sexual behaviors. If the right of

the hotel receptionist was protected, the right of sex workers was unknown, because the Vietnamese perspective

disrespected for the sexual service despite the fact that they were secretly interested in it. When the sex workers

whose majority were women could not speak out, they let their customers do whatever they wanted who did not

13

respect for them. The comforting words and flirting were used for the charge. However, the majority of sex

workers kept silent, hid their physical violation, looked down in the nice sexy dress, and pretended to smile at

their customers and others. They were shy and followed whatever the customers wanted. They were powerless

and had obsession about sex, relationship, and money.

2. Restaurant in Chittagong city and My Tho city

1. Position and Responsibility

I worked as a manager of a coffee shop -a restaurant- in Chittagong, Bangladesh. My main duty was to

check the quality of food before being served and the space of the restaurant. What I was supposed to do is to

develop the hospitality between the customers and staffs, and among the staffs themselves. The hospitality

means increasing economic satisfaction regarding food, enthusiastic attitude, and health care in the restaurant.

My responsibility was to improve public relationship, the safety of food, and the heath care for labors. I was

also the liaison between a female labor and male labors in the restaurant. Another duty was to check the

cleanness of a washroom and a smoking room. I tried different kinds of drink and food and reminded the cook

of bettering the food and drink as needed in the kitchen. Observing the customers while they were eating and

checking out the leftover gave me the feedback of the customers’ satisfaction in the common space. Overall, the

position as the restaurant manager gave me experiences of how to promote hospitality, or satisfaction, in the

service of food in the common space.

2. Social Interaction with Boss

There was no conflict between the boss who did business in different countries and me who experienced

cultural and national diversity. The communicative language was English between me and the boss in the

common space; however, this language was not commonly used in the restaurant. According to the contract, the

intern was supposed to be an active communicator who associated with both customers and staffs in public

space. However, under the control of the boss, the female manager like me had less chance to speak and

associate with the staffs than I expected in the public. The masculine dominance constrained the intern to act as

a silent and obedient worker who is forced to associate with other women rather than men and took multiple

duties to manage the restaurant in both private and public space. Working there constrained me to be a part of

Southern Asian culture where the boss introduced his family members to me, which showed his respect for a

14

foreign intern. I also gained regular feedback from the boss about how I showed up hospitality in the

relationship with the customers and how the customers feel from me. After sometimes, he asked me to be the

interpreter and advertiser for him when coming back to Vietnam. I disagreed with doing that because I did not

plan to do business like selling clothes. Therefore, the relationship between the boss and the intern gave me an

idea about the hospitality in the service industry.

3. Social Interaction with Colleague

After one week I took active position to communicate with my male colleagues who worked as a service

participants. They gave up their job due to the female leadership and public communication. They blamed the

boss on his bad behaviors when I called them. I usually asked them the questions about how to be a service

participants, personal interest and achievement, and how to justify customers’ satisfaction in the public.

Responding to me, the male colleagues answered my questions with their smiling. They invited me to try from

food to drink. At the same time, the male colleague kept asking me a lot of questions, so I did the same as they

did. The cook showed me how to prepare the food of the restaurant and let me taste the food to justify it. He

was welcome me whenever I visited the kitchen. He said, “I am your teacher who teaches you Bangla”.

Another male colleague let me work as his assistant to make a drink for the customers, and he also let me try

the different kinds of drinks. He said, “he is going to work in Quata next month”. The male service officers

showed me how to serve food with hospitality, which meant respecting for the customers’ decision and choice.

He said, “You should respect for the customers’ interest. Let them go if they want and if they do not like this

place.” The female leadership of the intern was not effective because of being associated with the teaching and

supervision of men as well as the barrier to language.

4. Social Interaction with Customers

The difference of appearance made the customers curious about my nationality and ethnicity. Some

customers assumed that I was Bangladeshi minority, whereas the others asked me where I was from. The social

interaction with the customers was like the experience of cultural exchange among Asian people. In the

restaurant, the Vietnamese intern got chances to serve Japanese, Chinese, Malaysian, Indian, and local

Bangladeshi customers. Whenever the non-Bangladeshi customers come, I am supposed to serve them. The

communicative language was not English but verbal language to show the respect and satisfaction between the

15

service participants and the intern. The cultural and economic behaviors of Asian customers were different from

one another. The Japanese customers prefer to quiet place in order to enjoy food, whereas the Chinese wanted

to bring food to home. Both Malaysian and Indian customers preferred to eat in the restaurant; at the same time,

the Bangladeshi customers preferred to hold different kinds of celebrations. One Malaysian customer asked,

“Where are you from?” when I serve them in the public space. They said, “It’s so cold” when knowing where I

am from and looking at my face without smiles, which made me struggle against my identity. In Vietnamese

context, service workers had to hide their own feelings, not to express themselves as they wanted but pretended

to be positive to comfort others. In the same construction of Southeast Asia, Vietnamese and Malaysian

perspectives are similar to one another. However, I followed neither of them after being shaped by Western

educational perspective that accepted individual expression and negative emotion. As a result, the hospitality in

this kind of service is the tolerance on the cultural and economic diversity of the customers.

5. Empowerment

I got a chance to be involved in the middle class and gained equal treatment regarding my Educational

qualification in the society. As the manager, I exercised my leadership in supervising men in public. The other

service participants listened to my opinions and shared their ideas with me. The female intern could refuse to

wear what the boss requested and received flexible working times depending on the personal condition. In the

restaurant, I had right to give feedbacks to my colleagues regarding food, uniform, drink, and communication

with the customers. The income I got from the internship supported my daily expense, and the working

requirement did not violate me. This demonstrates that the personal space and hospitality were correlated from

one another in the Southern Asian culture where men and women respect for the personal privacy in the

working place. I could give some advices and receive their feedbacks. One female colleague said, ‘Please come

back if you want!”, and then she hugged me. Another male colleague said, “Please come here!” I feel miserable

and guilty after working for them and leave the restaurant. There was the struggle inside the migrant worker

like me because I could not follow the local expectation. I had to move out or moved back to my own

community, when the local expectation wanted me to stay. As other migrant, I had no problem with social

relationship with local residents. Yet I had problems with environment adaptation physically and

psychologically, as well as the pressure of marriage at early twenties in South Asian context socially. I said, “I

16

do not know”, or “Ok”, but the truth is I could not come back there. Despite the common rule that the service

participants were supposed to show up their smiling while serving, the female intern had right to reject that

habit of hospitality to preserve their cultural identity.

6. Not empowerment

The female leadership was not appreciated in the restaurant because the decision makers were men. Despite

giving regular feedbacks, the ideas of the female intern were ignored regarding the restaurant manager. Another

issue is the barrier to language and public communication of the female intern. The female intern could not use

English as the second language to communicate with the local people because what male colleagues expected

from the intern was to speak their native language. The male colleagues completely ignored what the female

intern contributed in the restaurant. They were not ready to answer my questions because they mostly make

jokes in the native language. I needed regular translation from my female colleague whenever I had questions

and got answers from others. They did not care who I was but cared for what I was doing for them to bring

economic and financial benefits. Being influenced by the Vietnamese cultural communication, I had to make

others comfortable by appreciating them, extragegratting, talking about positive things, and ignoring the truth

whenever I spoke to them. In the case of Vietnamese women, they were not allowed to talk about whatever they

wanted. In the process of observing customers, I still followed the social contract of Vietnamese culture. I felt

scared of changing community from Western educational institute to Asian institute even though I enjoyed

experienced in different kinds of communities.

3.Tourist industry in My Tho city

1. Position and Responsibility

In tourist company 1, I worked as a tour guide assistant for two and half months. What I was supposed

to do was to follow the direction of the tour guide and learnt how the system of tourist industry was in-between

the city and countryside. I traveled around the local islets and the neighboring province where I used to live

across the river. Being a middle person who correlated the local business in the tourist sites improved the

income of local residents and supported the interest in the sightseeing of visitors. I took the foreign visitors to

the countryside to contribute the income to the local people. Another responsibility is to be a translator and

interpreter who helped the visitors to understand how local residents were living. To make the tourists

17

understand the local culture is to share knowledge and get them involved in activities, and games when they

took a rest. Mainly, I assisted the Vietnamese international tour guide to take care of Western, Australian, and

North American tourists.

In tourist company 2, I worked as an MC and a tour guide for one month. My duties were advertising

products in the small shop at the opening ceremony and guiding the tourists during the trip. Beside of taking

duty on correlating local business, the duty on respecting the laws on tourism ensures the security and safe tours

in the tourist industry. I introduced the alcohol exported from Dong Thap province in My Tho city. I assisted

the local tour guide to take care of the Northern Vietnamese tourists.

After three years, in other tourist companies, I worked as the co-worker for other tourist companies and

got daily payment rather than monthly payment. I did not participate in official position of the company.

Instead, I worked as the unofficial tour guide. However, I am the preference of a certain tourist companies, not

the majority of them. On every weekend during three weeks, I worked in the local tourist site from late morning

to afternoon. I went home after every trip. However, I could not guide the tourists on every weekend when I

was in the tourist site. The tourists I guided were either Asian tourists or Asian migrants in non-Asian state

including Korean, Chinese-Australian, and Vietnamese.

2. Social Interaction with Boss

After gaining the permission of the director, I was allowed to be the intern in his company. The director

was not the one who supervised my training, but the tour operator supported my training. Unlike the other

employees who gained the feedback of the director on every weekend, the intern gained the feedback if the

intern requested. However, the preference of the labor in the tourist company is not undergraduate students but

the ones with lower qualification. He hired two employees whose educational qualification was intermediate.

He said, “two of them used to do internship in my company and came back to work for my company. I did not

know how long I could hire them, but currently they were useful for my company”. Therefore, the low standard

of labors regarding the policy of the boss preferred to paying low income to the local service participants. At

the same time, the undergraduate employees who achieved higher qualification got less opportunity to work in

the local tourist companies. Definitely, the lower qualified female workers are satisfied with lower income,

obedient to their boss.

18

Social Interaction with Colleague

In the tourist companies, the majority of official employees were men whereas the minorities of official

employees were women. During the internship, the female interns and employees were suppressed by their

male colleagues because their public critique addressed the female service officers. For example, stories by

male colleagues of rape of women in the tourist industry worked to create fear among the female colleagues.

There is lack of respect of male colleagues for their female colleagues and intern. They requested women to

dress properly, make-up, and be humble in front of men; otherwise, the male colleagues criticized their female

ones. One experienced male colleague said to his female colleagues, “Go home with your husband!”. When a

young female service participant made up and dressed up, the male colleagues said, “you look so ugly or too

beautiful”. Therefore, I followed whatever the male tour guide requested without getting any chance to give

public representation during the tour. There was no freedom of speech and movement for the intern like me

whenever the intern worked with the tour guide. Without trust and within the high economic self-interest of the

experienced tour guides, the female intern who followed the male tour guides suffer from physical and

economic exploitation.

3. Social Interaction with Customers

The hospitality is the value of social communication between the intern and the customers.There is little

opportunity for women to develop assertiveness and leadership in the tourist industry because of what the

female tour guides or intern were supposed to be humble and lower their self-esteem to serve the customers.

The female tour guide or female interns suffer from the disrespect of the customers, especially Asian customers.

The female service officers and intern took more duties than we were supposed to do. According to many Asian

customers including the Vietnamese, female tour guides were not considered as leaders but servants. Because

of misunderstanding the social and economic roles of the women, many female tour guides or intern were under

the threat of sexual abuse, teasing, and gender discrimination of the customers. Some male customers took

advantage of the hospitality context and they tried to get the women involved in the sex industry rather than

service. Taking an overnight tour to another province, a male international tour guide suggested me to get

married to an old foreign visitor when seeing him talking to me. Along the road to the tourist site, the

international tour guide said to me, “he likes you. If you get married to him, you will own his farm”. I replied,

19

“we are just talking. He is like my grandpa”. This experience highlights the sexual undercurrent often assumed

by male colleagues and customers in the hospitality industry in relation to female workers.

4. Empowerment

Women were empowered in the tourist industry in case of independent income and the improvement of

public representation. Due to the requirement of public relationship, the female tour guides were supposed to

take care of their health, appearance, and communication skills to adapt to different social standards of the

customers. The improvement in the public relationship helped the women to increase their income and social

capital. Consequently, the female service participants engaged in beauty services and traveling services more

than before in order to extend their knowledge and increase self-confidence in themselves. The self-confident

women could give public speech, have freedom of movement, and practice leadership in guiding a trip. On the

boat trip along the canal, one female customer told me, “You are a knowledgeable tour guide. I hope you will

be the tour guide in the future as you wish”. I said, “I hope so”. After every trip of my internship, the customers

took the picture with me in the boat station. The tourist industry provided opportunities for the women to be

involved in social business and economic role in the family. Therefore, the female service participants could

contribute to family expense. For example, the income the female service participants earned expended on the

education and health care of their children and themselves. This made the female service participants

independent of their husband and traditional roles such as staying at home taking care of children and cooking.

5. Not empowerment

The female service officers and intern in the tourist industry were under the control of male boss and

authority that deployed female labors to empowered male employees. The good feedback from the customers

that increased the income of the female service participants suppressed the male bosses and their power. Many

women were fired despite the benefit they brought to the tourist companies. Working in the tourist companies,

the female tour guides, were not allowed to make decision and reveal any information about their bosses. The

lower educated women were the preference of the male bosses because of their obedience and acceptance of the

masculine control. In case of being teased and sexual abuse in the working place, the lower qualified educated

women suffer more than the higher qualified ones. The issue is they hid the truth about the sexual immorality of

their male colleagues and bosses to preserve their job. Working as the cooperator of another tourist company, I

20

became a chef assistant in a family restaurant. In the kitchen, the female chef told me, “Be careful with your

boss, especially when he treats you so well. The thoughtful attitude of one married boss toward you shows that

he wants something more than what he did for you in the public”. I did not say anything but got scared of him.

Working for that company in the next tour, I did not see the female chef anymore. Beside, those who were

higher educated were easily fired because of their willing to raise the voice for themselves. After three years

coming back to that company and asked for applying for his company, the male boss refused to hire me because

I graduated from an international university abroad rather than Vietnam. The former boss did not want to pay

for me because he needed cheap employees. Moreover, his bussiness has not worked well, so he did not need to

hire more labor. He expected me to find another job. Not only this boss but also another one who I came to talk

were concerned about the international standard. They preferred to localization rather than internationalization.

The concern about the security made the boss avoid keeping contact with me. When I told him the truth that I

studied in another country-Bangladesh, he did not want to contact with me again. Another boss in tourist

company 3 claimed, “You should know that not all certification provided by foreign university were accepted

in Vietnam. Overall, the female labors suffered from sexual abuse, exploitation, and discrimination against

higher qualification in the tourist industry.

Discussion and Conclusion

Sex industry and dominant masculinity in the urban hospitality industry

The greater number of female employees does not prove that women have more power than men in the

service industry in My Tho city because of their being sexually abused and socially discriminated. The women

working for hotels, tourist companies, and restaurants, suffer from sexual harassment and abuse. The income

they earn is the tips from the male customers who behave unethically sexually to the female service

participants. Due to the threat to low income, many female service participants become obedient to their male

boss and get away from both their practice in leadership and pursuit of job promotion to get involved in sex

industry directly and indirectly. In a direct way, the service workers face sexual harassment more than the

women working outside the hospitality industry. The risky task is to flirt the male customers who are motivated

to abuse them. Yet the social norm of the hospitality does not consider that task as unethical because it brings

financial benefit to the flirting workers. Thus, legal protection for the female service workers is not conducted

21

in practice but in paper. Another risky experience of the service workers constructed by the threat to their well-

being, for the low income does not support them to expend on health insurance, beautification, and stress.

Working condition and social unethical relationship

There is the lack of respect for both individual values and personal privacy; however, there is the

dominance of social pressure and hierarchy in the Vietnamese society, particularly in My Tho city. The

unethical relationship in the service industry causes high rate of unemployment due to the discrimination

against lower class, ethnicity, migrant labors or refugees. The higher socio-economic groups are respected and

gain long-term working contracts with high income. In contrast, the lower socio-economic groups are

disrespected and criticized by the local prejudice. They had less opportunity for job, short-contract job, and low

income despite their higher educational qualification. The issue is the lower socio-economic groups are

immigrants who cannot adapt to local language and cultural difference between their home country and the new

country. Thus, they suffer from exploitative economic relation and social exclusion. The working condition and

social relationship in the hospitality industry in My Tho city is still unethical due to the lack of communal

tolerance.

The private business is localized by the government in the urban hospitality industry

The governmental corruption and association with the private business is a strategy of localizing

hospitality system of My Tho city. Their children and relatives of the government and the hospitality directors

have more job opportunities, even though they have no knowledge of the urban hospitality industry. This lower

the stander of human resource in the local urban. Under the support of some security officers, the sex industry

and the issue of HIV is ignored regarding the hotel industry and restaurant during the night shift, and the tourist

industry. In the hospitality system, the managers keep contract with the policemen in order to pay for their

personal expense and protecting the personal information of the sex workers and other female service workers.

Doing that increases the sense of local business and excludes the international business. Thus, the local

employees without international relevance are the preference of employment requirement in this system. Those

who have stronger relationship with the government and are ready to pay for them are appointed to better

positions in the working place. There is less judgement on the qualified labors and efficiency but power and

socio-economic relationship.

22

The lack of standard of female leadership in the urban hospitality industry

There are some female managers in hotels, restaurants, and tourist industry, yet their influence on social

relationship with their colleagues, family memmers, customers, and employess is not strong. With the higher

position in the woking place, the women do not gain enough trust but gain more critique in their community.

The jealousy of men who are even their friends, colleagues, bosses, husbands suppresses the women

psychologicall and physically. They work more than others, especially men and take multiple roles in both

household and working place, whereas the men take one specific role on their working place. In this system, the

female service workers and manager have low self-esteem, suffer from hardship and sexual harrassment in

either public or private space. In this kind of industry, the income of women is lower than men and their

opportunity is less than men. Women are the subject serving men sexually in both direct and indirect ways. The

male control causes the boom period of the sex industry because the majority of the cusomers are men rather

than women. Those female service workers are feminized to accept a certain role of serving without the right to

complaint and avoid empowering themselves with voluntary and independent decision-making.

Questions and Concerns

1. How can we reduce the sexualization of women in the hospitality sector?

2. How can we ensure that more women become decision-makers in this sector?

3. How can we create safer and supportive working conditions for women in the hospitality sector?

The Vietnamese women have gradually changed their status during the development period. The gender

issue might remain in different aspects of society, particularly hotel, restaurant, and tourist companies. Is there

any solution for the Vietnamese women to practice their leadership in both household and service industry? Is

female leadership part of the solution to the reduce sexual harassment? Can female leadership in hospitality

industry change the problems in the sex industry in Southeast Asia and My Tho city? Will the rise of female

leadership reduce the traditional value of Asian culture and social hierarchy?

23

Works Cited

1.Baum, Thomas. “International Perspectives on Women and Work in Hotels, Catering, and Tourism”. Bureau

for Gender Equality Working Paper 1/2003, Sectoral Activities Department Working Paper No. 289.

International Labor Office, Sectoral Activities Department. Geneva, ILO, 2013.

2.Gibert, D., Guerrier, Y. and Guy, J. “Sexual Harrasment Issues in the Hospitality Industry”. International

Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Mangement, Volume 10, issue 2, pp48-53

3.Pinar, Musa, Metin Kozak. “Gender Diversity in the Hospitality Industry: an Emperial Study in Turkey”.

International Journal of Hospitality Management, March 2011.

4. Baum, Tom. “Migrant Worker in the International Hotel Industry”. International Labor Office, International

Migration Branch, Sectoral Activities Department.-Geneva: ILO, 2012.

5.”Developments and Challenges in the Hospitality and Tourism Sector”. International labor organization,

Sectoral Activities Program- Geneva: ILO, 2010.

6. Masadeh, Mousa. “Women in the Hotel Industry: What’s Missing from this Picture?”. International Journal

of Academic Research in Business and Social Science. January 2013, Vol. 3, No. 1. ISSN: 2222-6990

7. Catherine, W.Ng, Ray Pine. “Women and Men in Hotel Management in Hong Kong: perceptions of gender

and career development issues”. International Journal of Hospitality Management 22 (2003), pp. 85-102

8. Mason, Ashley. “Tourism and Sex Trade Industry in Southeast Asia”. Totem: the university of Western

24

Ontario Journal of Anthopology, Vol. 7, Iss- 1, Article 7

9.”Global Report on Women in Tourism 2010: Preliminary Findings”. World Tourism Organization and United

Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Employment of Women, 2011.

10. “The Case for Change: Women Working in Hospitality, Leisure, Travel, and Tourism’. Excecutive

Summary. Novermber, 2010.

11. Burnier, Delysa. “Encounters with the Self in Social Science Research: a Political Scientist Looks at

Autoethnography”. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Vol. 35, No. 4, August 2006, pp. 410-418

12. Gonzalez, Vernadette V. Today’ Research. Tomorrow’s Inspiration: “Military Base: ‘Royalty Trips,’ and

Imperial Modernities: Gendered and Racialized Labor in the Postcolonial Philiphines”. A Journal of

Women Studies, Vol. 28, No.3, 2007, pp. 28-59.

13. Parrenas, Rhacel Salazar. “Mothering from the Distance: Emotions, Gender, and Intergenerational Relations

in Filipino Transnational Family”. Feminist Studies: Vol.27, No.2 (Summer, 2001), pp. 361-390

14. West, Candace, Don H.Zimmerman. “Doing Gender”. Gender and Society, Vol. 1, No.2 (Jun, 1987), pp.

125-151

15. Kabeer, Naila. “Paid Work, Women’s Empowerment and Gender Justice: Critical Pathways of Social

Change”.

25