Abstract
In October 1959, Ho Chi Minh attended and spoke before the North Vietnamese National Assembly at the “Meeting to Discuss the Draft of the Law on Marriage and Family.” The purpose of this study is to provide a feminist rhetorical analysis of this address to explicate the rhetorical strategies Ho employed to advocate for this law. I argue that Ho reframed the Marriage and Family Law into a policy that corresponded to the needs and demands of the National Assembly through methods of dissociation, association, and strategic repetition. I also found that Ho employed a dual leader/uncle first persona to assist his reframing efforts. These findings reveal the complicated legacy of Ho Chi Minh in championing for women’s rights in Vietnam. On the one hand, he successfully pushed for the implementation of the first law to protect women in their private lives. On the other hand, the Draft Meeting Address portrayed this law as important only because it contributed to the socialist revolution, rather than because it addressed sexism in the contemporary North Vietnamese family.
Advisor
Bostdorff, Denise
Department
Communication Studies
Recommended Citation
Nguyen, Hannah, ""Not Liberating Women Means The Building Of A Socialist Society Is Only Half-Way Done": A Feminist Analysis Of Ho Chi Minh'S Advocacy For The First Law On Marriage And Family In 1959 Vietnam" (2022). Senior Independent Study Theses. Paper 9900.
https://openworks.wooster.edu/independentstudy/9900
Disciplines
Speech and Rhetorical Studies
Keywords
Ho Chi Minh, Law on Marriage and Family, feminist criticism
Publication Date
2022
Degree Granted
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type
Senior Independent Study Thesis Exemplar
Included in
© Copyright 2022 Hannah Nguyen